


Browa's Phic Phight Prompts

by Browa123



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, Phic Phight, Tumblr Prompt, oneshot colllection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 34,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browa123/pseuds/Browa123
Summary: Collection of prompts for April 2019's Phic PhightAdditional Warnings will be included in the notes of every prompt.





	1. Long Rule the King!

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt By Nomii
> 
> Ghost King Danny AU - After the defeat of Pariah Dark, Danny finds himself as the "Prince" of the Ghost Zone with his future death making him King. He learns that every ghost has to listen to whatever order he gives them and, while the temptation to abuse the power just a little is great, he mostly uses it to make sure they stay out of trouble and make things better.

Frostbite is on one side, Clockwork is on the other, and a council of Observants are at his back.

Danny is standing atop a large cliff face, thousands upon thousands of ghosts at his feet. A sea of pulsating and glowing green all around him.

This is not how he planned his Deathday.

The again, destiny always has other plans for him. It was around five years of being Phantom he was alerted to his greater purpose.

"Have you not heard of the Rite of Conquest?" Frostbite had asked him. He may not have been around for very many history tests, but he at least knew what Frostbite was talking about.

Ever since he defeated Pariah Dark nearly one hundred years ago, it was official that by law, he was the prince of all ghosts.

His core hadn't matured back then, and he was too young to be king. Still alive. So the ghosts waited a century until this very day. 

To coronate the new king of the ghost zone while Pariah lies in slumber as royalty no more.

He was stripped of his ring years prior to this day, Danny Phantom once again sealing him, without the aid of any invention this time. His role as prince was solidified.

Sure, it was nice to have a bit more respect from other ghosts around the Ghost Zone, but it felt awkward to have the average specter shy away from the gaze of his human self as he got older.

But there was nothing for it now. Now his core was fully grown, now he had come into his own as a full ghost rather than a halfa, the half ghost prince. But days of princehood end with his full death.

The Observants move to the other previous Halfa in the room, who had retrieved the Crown of Fire from his own lair. Even he had softened up with time, and held the Crown with no small amount of pride.

"I always had intended to wear this crown myself, you know." Vlad's voice was soft, and though he hasn't aged a day since they met, his voice is raw with time spent over the last century. At least now their fighting had ended.

"It was meant for you from the start, I suppose," the elder ghost kneels, holding the Crown out to the younger in signs of respect. In turn, the waves of ghosts bow below the cliff face.

Clockwork takes the Crown from Plasmius as Frostbite carefully handles the Ring of Rage. They too bow, before standing.

It's Danny's turn to kneel, as Clockwork places the Crown of Fire on top of his snow white head. Frostbite holds Danny's gloved hand forward, sliding the Ring of Rage in place, allowing power from both legendary objects to surge through his form.

As he kneels and takes the burden, the Observants flow forward, throwing their hands out to the ghosts and calling them to rise. They all stand with Danny, who rises with the power of his ancient accessories.

He raises his own hands, the Observants now moving behind the ghost king, Frostbite and Clockwork moving out of the way as well as the new king steps forward.

The ghosts bow once again, Danny keeping his hands raised in the air as he reflects on the past century. The heartache and loss he endured as his family grew older and older with him staying twenty-four for all of this time. 

When the last of his relatives had bitten the bullet, he knew it was time to fulfill his destiny as the king of all ghosts. His human half was sorely missed in his mind, but it was time to move on, move passed the pain, and become the king everyone wished he be.

"Long Rule the King!"

Frostbite bellows the phrase into the crowd of ghosts. The spirits soon follow, shouting and chanting, bringing about the dawn of a new rule, a dawn of great power. The new era of King Phantom.

"Long Rule the King!" "Long Rule the King!"

Power surged through the ectoplasm in his arms and in his core, he could feel the will of every ghost, their every whim, the Ghost Zone itself became his will and conscious that he could build to his own design. This world was his.

But, as great as it would be to redesign an entire dimension in his image, it just wouldn't be fair to the inhabitants of it. With that thought in his mind, he decides that his rules shall be set for the safety of both dimensions.

His goals were to bring peace, and thus he must start with the ghosts. His laws were brought to Walker within days of his ruling. It was for the safety of themselves and humans.  
-  
1\. Ghosts were not to be in the human realm without authority knowledge.

2\. Ghosts are not to engage humans without extreme reason.

3\. Vengeance should be carried out with civility and little injury between parties

4\. Do not engage ghost hunters under any circumstances.

5\. There will be no attempts to take over the mortal world.

6\. Attempting to take the throne from Phantom is treason. It's a historically proven fact that Phantom will win in a fight in general.  
-  
These were his only rules. Though some ghosts did complain, the lenience and free will they had compared to Pariah's Reign could not be ignored. The ghosts would make due with the lenient structure Phantom had provided them.

-

It was many centuries later when a few unexpected guests arrived at his palace.

Phantom was a wise old king, who sought help from Clockwork and listened to his masses for many thousands of years. He was hailed and respected for his wisdom and strength. There was a lot to be seen as the years flowed by within blinks of time, leaving the king wise to many a thing.

So when Plasmius arrived with urgency on his features one day, King Phantom hailed the ghost with attempts to quell his worried disposition.

"What has you shaken, my old friend?" He inquired.

"Daniel. It's taken many a year, I've found them." Plasmius replied. King Phantom hadn't gone by that name in centuries.

"Found who?" The king inquired, before the palace doors burst open behind the old ghosts.

"Danny!"

There where many humanoid ghosts in the in the doors, rushing up to the king. A teal ghost rushed to him and hugged him tight.

Tears formed in the eyes of the old king, as the old embrace was so familiar to him. They all were so familiar. He only looked at Plasmius with the most miffed of expressions before it dawns on him.

"You found my family...."


	2. Portrait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deredere's Prompt
> 
> Danny wasn’t ever really expecting fans when he became a superhero, but after a civilian gives him a drawing they did of him, he finds out that he’s more of a celebrity than he thought.

It's mid-day on another routine ghost hunt. 

Danny can feel the tiredness creeping into his limbs due to the seemingly endless streams of ghosts never cease for the part-time superhero.

Although at this point, part time is a clear understatement. Most nights he's out for hours past his curfew and even now he's missing a history test, chasing down Skulker for the umpteenth time today.

The lid of the Fenton Thermos finally clamps down on the rest of the device while Skulker screams bloody murder. Danny sighs as the last ghost of the day is finally caught, leaving him to head around the bend to revert back to his human self.

"Mr. Phantom?"

Or so he thought. The sound of a young voice drags him out of his thoughts of how much trouble he's in today, and he turns around to find the source.

"Mr. Phantom?" The voice, belonging to a small child, barely older than six, repeats itself. Blonde hair and wide blue eyes meet his luminescent green ones, and the Halfa takes pause.

"Hey, uh, kid. Didn't your parents ever teach you to leave the ghosts alone?" Danny stutters, seeing the blue eyes sparkle with delight. The kid must be happy that he noticed them.

"Yeah, but that's for mean ghosts. You're a nice ghost, so I'm not scared of you Mr. Phantom," the child puffs their chest out, smiling widely.

"Still, even if they are nice ghosts, you shouldn't approach them," Danny attempts to chide with a nervous tone. The kid doesn't seem interested in listening though, as they hold their hands behind their back.

"I know, I know. But I saw you beat up that really mean bully ghost and knew I had to see you, Mr. Phantom!" The small child exclaims, pulling one arm out from behind their back and grasping Danny's hand.

"Brrr! Mr. Phantom is so cold!" The kid comments, but they only grasp Danny's hand tighter. "But I don't mind, because Mr. Phantom is a superhero! A real one without the drawings!"

Danny tenses. "You... think I'm a superhero?" He asks, to the kids response of nodding exuberantly. Their small smile widens as they grip his gloved hand.

"Uh huh! My friends and I talk all the time about how cool you are! You beat up all the mean ghosts and you save the day all the time, even though you don't have to!" They cheer, brightening everything with the impossibly wide smile. Their little hand us so warm in Danny's own.

"I wanna be like you one day, Mr. Phantom! Saving the day with superpowers and making all the mean ghosts go away when they bully everyone!" The child pulls their other hand away from behind their back, revealing a sheet of paper with something black scribbled on it.

"What do have there?" Danny asks, tilting his head in slight confusion. The kid eagerly holds it up to him, practically shoving their drawing in his face with excitement.

"It's you! And you're beating up the bad guys! I drew you in class today," they say quickly. "The teachers loved it too, said I was very talented!"

Danny looks at the scribbled drawing of himself, feeling something gather in his eye. It's not very strait of a drawing, the scribbles are outside the lines and his hands are too big on his body, but it is a drawing of him punching a scribbled green blob.

It's not much, a child's drawing of him on a sheet of paper, but it's enough to stun him into silence. Danny finds himself at a loss for words as he takes in the drawing, the child's admiration. 

For him, Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom, some nobody, freak hybrid who wouldn't amount to nearly as much as the rest of his genius family. For a Ghost who could turn into a human due to some freak accident. For someone who could save lives.

Danny stares long and hard at the drawing, tears forming in his eyes as a warmth builds in his chest. It's not the same aura as when he turns human, it's so much more comforting than that.

"Mr. Phantom? I didn't mean to make you cry, Mr. Phantom!" The Halfa feels the child tug on his hand again, jolting him from his trance.

"No, no. It's okay. Thank you, you're a great artist," Danny finds his words, although they are a bit choked and fumbled. He uses his free hand to wipe the tears from his face.

"Does Mr. Phantom want to keep my drawing?" The kid smiles again, shoving the picture back in Danny's face. "Here, here! It's for you, because I can always go make another one at school tomorrow!"

Danny smiles too, taking the drawing from the small child. He's unable to stop the tears in his eyes, and his world feels just a little warmer.

A distant voice calls a name, and the child let's go of Danny's hand. "I'm coming, Mum!" They call, before turning back to the Halfa. "Thank you Mr. Phantom! Next time you save they day, I'm gonna cheer the loudest!"

The kid runs off after that, leaving Danny alone in the back alley with a drawing in his hand and a lot to think on. He looks at the sheet of paper again and smiles.

To think, just before now he was questioning if this whole superhero thing was worth the trouble. He folds the drawing and puts it in a pocket in his jumpsuit, where he wouldn't loose it.

Yeah. It's very much worth it.


	3. Happy Deathday, Danny!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunagalemaster's prompt
> 
> Time Loops- Maddie wakes up at the start of the same day, the day where she managed to captured Phantom. Unknowingly, the only way out of the loop is to accept her son fully as Danny Phantom.
> 
> (By pure coincidence, the prompt is being released April 3rd)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Special Warnings!**
> 
>  
> 
> Major Character Death

She points the barrel of the gun in his face with a cocky smirk as he struggles against the anti-ghost netting.

The black colored, ectoplasmic mass writhes in the strings crafted by her very hands to catch ghosts, leaving the most elusive and mysterious of all finally in her grasp.

Danny Phantom, the biggest enigma in all her hunting career.

"You're surprisingly developed for a ghost," she comments, pressing the barrel deeper into his snow white head, watching individual hairs splay and compress in the presence of the object. 

The ghost watches her with wide eyed horror as the whine of the ecto gun fills the night air. Such a humanoid specimen, and the only green feature appeared to be it's eyes and freckles.

"Pale skin tone, mimicry of clothing, five fingers in total," Maddie notes aloud as she studies Phantom. The sheer detail was amazing, the post human consciousness must be intricate in this ghost. This must be the source of Phantom's overwhelming power.

"Still, it's too dangerous to release you, even if to move containers. It's a shame I'll only get to dissect your ectoplasmic remains," Maddie sighs sadly, seeing the gun at full charge as he moves her aim to the core of the specter.

Phantom jolts instantly, struggling harder now, imitating a panicked expression. Must be that instinct of self preservation, which was present in all ghosts, much like their obsessions.

"Please! Don't do this!" The ghost begs, voice pitched high as it trembled. For an unfeeling spirit, it's acts always were convincing to the untrained eye.

But Maddie is a professional, and no ghost ever tricks her. She does not feel sympathy for Phantom, or his ploys to have her set him free. Her finger moves around the trigger of her pistol, aim true at the chest of Phantom, his core.

"No, Mom-!"

*BANG*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie wakes with a jolt.

She shakes her head, snapping herself out of whatever sleep she was just having. What a crazy dream, having Phantom captured like that.

It was too good to be true, apparently.

Still, its time to get ready for the day. Maddie gets up and changes out of her pajamas, into her favorite blue hazmat jumpsuit. After briskly marking off April 3rd on her calendar, she heads downstairs to make breakfast.

She's hit with sudden Deja Vu as she spots Danny at the table, and Jazz consoling him as he shakes in her arms. The elder sibling pats the younger on the back and tells him that everything is okay.

"Is everything alright over here?" Maddie asks absentmindedly, feeling like someone had hit repeat on a record she didn't recognise.

"Sorry Mom. It's just, it's been a year since Danny had his accident with the portal, and-" Jazz stutters, watching Danny shiver in his seat.

The sense of familiarity grows stronger at that. Yes, it's been a year since Danny was in that terrible accident. She already knows that, because of that dream from last night having a very familiar turn of events to this.

Must be coincidence. Maddie finds it in her to shrug it off. Perhaps she could follow through in what she did in that dream, make pancakes to help Danny feel better. Jazz had described it as Post Tramatic Stress Disorder in the dream.

The best she can do for her baby is take his mind off of whatever pain he must be reliving. Jack joins them all for pancakes at the time Maddie expects, as a sinking feeling finds itself present in her gut.

The day continues to play out in striking familiarity. They finish breakfast, Sam and Tucker come over to visit per Jazz's request, leaving the adults to let Danny have his alone time.

Just like in the dream.

If this is just like the dream, she and Jack should check on the kids soon. In the dream, Danny was missing and Phantom had the other teens under a curse just in front of the ghost portal, where her baby was hurt in the first place.

Lo and behold, Maddie reaches the basement, tense and prepared, to see Phantom and the teens, minus Danny staring entranced into the ghost portal.

Despite Danny being missing from the group, a giddy excitement fills Maddie. She was going to catch Phantom today.

She confronts the ghost the same way as in the dream. Phantom jolts, the teens move to defend him, and Maddie is quicker once again.

Though the pattern of the ghosts flight us different from her dream, she's still easily able to track him outside with renewed adrenaline and vigor. The net clasps around the shadowy form, causing it to drop in the night sky.

The Huntress draws her pistol again and presses it to Phantom's core. The ghost isn't smiling this time, already feigning fear and squirming in the grasp of her hand stitched ghost net.

"Look, you don't want to do this," Phantom's voice wavers as his dead, green eyes look at the gun to his chest. Maddie presses it in harder.

"You don't know that. I've been waiting a year for this, Phantom. You are the perfect specimen for my research," Maddie is the one smirking this time as she pulls the trigger.

"Wait!!"

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake. What a strange dream...

Wait a minute.

Was it a dream? This is the second time this has happened now. She looks around the room, adjusting her pajamas and checking the calendar.

April 3rd remains blank, no cross or circle to indicate the day had passed, even if she clearly remembers marking it off, in red marker, twice.

She gets ready for the day, seeing the same scene in the kitchen. Danny shaking, Jazz consoling him about the year ago accident that still has him on edge.

They share pancakes, but Maddie let's Jack do most of the talking. Danny scoots his chair further away from where she's sitting, driving a steak in her heart.

Sam and Tucker arrive at the time she expected. Jazz shoos her and Jack out of the house for the day, leaving the teens inside the house for Phantom to eventually curse.

Not on her watch.

As soon as she can, she rushes back into the house, weapon drawn and aimed at Phantom, who seemed to just arrive. Danny still nowhere to be seen.

The net catches the unsuspecting ghost, and the teens shriek as Phantom writhes again.

"This is what I was trying to tell you!" Phantom shouts at them, before turning back to Maddie, who already had the pistol aimed at his core.

"Leave my family alone, you filthy ghost," the hunter hisses.

"Wait! You don't get it! If you kill me it'll just start ov-!"

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie wakes with a jolt.

She barely has to look at the calendar to notice that the date hasn't changed. April 3rd remains unmarked and free of red ink.

Curse that Phantom. He's done something, ahem, is going to do something to her Danny today. And it's her job to prevent it. 

And prevent it, she will. Three is a pattern, and she'll endure three thousand to save her baby boy from the likes of an evil specter!

She catches Phantom too late this day.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

As much as she wants Danny to stay with her today, Sam, Tucker and Jazz refuse.

She's too late again. Phantom pays the price.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

She insists that she and Jack stay in the house with Danny today.

The trio still refuse. Danny is still missing by the end of the day.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

She prepares a trap for Phantom today.

It works like a charm, but it doesn't help her find what the ghost did to her baby.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

Danny leaves the room the moment Maddie enters, too startled to look her in the eye.

Phantom mirrors the expression when she catches him. It makes him harder to shoot, but she doesn't fall to the tricks of a Ghost.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

Danny hangs his head at the breakfast table, looking defeated. He doesn't respond to Maddie prompting him.

Phantom grabs the barrel of her gun and points it at his core for her.

"Go ahead. I don't care anymore."

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

It's April 3rd. Danny doesn't react.

Phantom walks up to her in broad daylight and points to his chest with a dead expression.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake.

It's April 3rd. Danny looks just as exhausted as she feels.

Phantom holds his arms out like a cross when they meet at the usual time.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie wakes up.

It's April 3rd. She's growing very sick of pancakes every morning.

Phantom has a target painted in green on his chest, the bullseye right over his core.

"For the record, I'm worth way more than fifty points, mum."

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie wakes up.

It's April 3rd. They day of Danny's terrible accident.

When the teens shoo the adults out, Phantom is already waiting for Maddie around the back of the house. His ghostly aura is dimmed and his eyes are dull. He appears the be humming a tune.

Maddie has grown tired of this temporal catch and release. She doesn't draw her pistol this time, electing to sit opposite of where Phantom is floating.

She picks up on the tune he's humming. Happy Birthday, apparently. Why a ghost like Phantom is compelled to hum a birthday song is beyond the hunter, but she can't really say anything.

"You're aim's been getting better," Phantom comments snidely as he finishes humming. "You hit the target dead in the center last loop, guess the practice is doing some good for you."

The specter rotates a full 180 degrees, leaving him upside down. "So, how are we doing this whole thing this time? Strike a pose, maybe I can use my so called good acting to make it a dramatic display? Might as well make you killing me on repeat fun, you know."

Maddie scoffs. "Like I care. Im not shooting you this time," she reveals, watching the ghostly child float upside down, whispy white hair drifting in the breeze.

"Staring contest then? We got a full looping eternity to share," Phantom quips, waving a gloved hand.

"No, I just have questions. Not that I expect you to answer truthfully," Maddie hisses.

"Not that I expect you to believe me," Phantom replies clinically. "Hey, it's my personal hell we're in, reliving the anniversary of my death and all."

"You remember the day you died?" Maddie socks her head.

"Yup. April 3rd, 2004. I was being a stupid kid near industrial equipment. It usually is a offensive to ghosts to talk about their deaths, but considering the date and the situation, I don't really care anymore," Phantom elaborates.

"Not only do you remember the time, but how you died as well?" Maddie echoes in awe at the ghost before her. And his death was only a year ago, today. "You're quite powerful for a ghost with an immature core..."

"Yeah, well, mum always did say I was special," Phantom winks. He returns to being right side up, snowy hair falling messily over his face.

Maddie regards Phantom again. He's such a humanoid ghost, taking away the aura and the floating would leave you with a normal kid. A child.

A child she's shot to kill over a dozen times today.

Phantom is such a young ghost, who died at such a young age. A year ago today, even. Such a tramatic event would give any human child his age nightmares. Phantom can't be much older than her own Danny, can't he?

"I'm sorry." Maddie sighs. Phantom cocks his head in a familiar fashion in response.

"It probably doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry for shooting you Phantom. It's just, my Danny, my son. He's supposed to be hanging out with his friends today, and then I see you there and-"

Phantom gives Maddie a reminiscent smile. "He should, shouldn't he?" The ghost sighs. He charges an ectoblast in his palm, pointing two fingers at his head.

"See you six hours before now, mum."

"Wait! Phantom-!"

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Maddie jolts awake, clutching at her chest.

It's April 3rd, 2005. A year after Danny's accident. A year after Phantom met an untimely end.

Jazz is downstairs, feebly attempting to talk Danny out of whatever slump he's in. Danny only smiles a reminicent smile, a familiar smile, before looking at the table again.

Maddie makes eggs and toast for breakfast, she's done with pancakes for a while. Danny looks greatful about this too.

Sam and Tucker arrive go shoo Jack and Maddie out. They need some privacy for the respects they're about to pay, after all.

Maddie takes the time to go buy a cake. It's the least she can do for him after all this time, wether it be a day or a year in passing.

She arrives home and heads to the basement with a decadent chocolate cake in her hands, catching sight of Sam, Tucker, Jazz and her Danny where Phantom would usually be sitting at this point in the day.

Danny looks back at her, and she smiles, setting the cake down and sitting beside him in front of the portal, running her hands through his raven hair.

"I'm sorry," she whispers to him. His blue eyes are green in the reflection of the portal's glow. Or is that just him?

"You already apologised last time. I forgive you," he replies. "Though cake does sound a lot better than pancakes for the fifteenth loop in a row."

"Happy Deathday, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you."

Danny smiles a real smile this time. Despite the date, it's one of the best days in both their lives.

In the corner of the room, a Master of Time smiles. He's upheld his responsibility. 

The red ink marks remain over top of April 3rd when Maddie wakes up again.

**TIME IN.**


	4. Ancient Prophecies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five-Rivers Prompt
> 
> While exploring the Ghost Zone, Team Phantom comes across evidence that Vlad wasn't the first half-ghost after all.

No one on Team Phantom knows what spurred the sudden investigation into Pariah's Keep.

If you ask Danny, he'd say some thing or other about Sam picking up a new book from the Skulk n' Lurk, with more mysteries to discover at the Lair of the infamous Ghost King.

If you ask Sam, her excuse is that Danny has been itching to take another peek out of habit. Pariah is asleep and the Fright Knight works for Vlad now. Added bonus being the skeletons didn't animate without a ghostly master.

With those thoughts in mind, Jazz and Tucker are happy to agree on the fact that things should be fine as long as Pariah stays asleep. And that everyone gets home before dinner, because worrying parents are a nightmare in itself. Despite whatever could lead Amity Park's top, yet undercover and secret, ghost hunting team to Pariah's Keep, they are here now, and ready to look around the cool things they missed last time.

Danny himself finds his will drawn toward the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, where the ghost king himself rests even now. The Halfa had grown more powerful since the legendary confrontation, but even now the presence of the sleeping ghost causes him to shudder. He runs his hands along the ins inscriptions on the tomb, feeling the ancient etchings move his hand ever so slightly as it sweeps across, core flickering in some sort of recognition.

In fact, there are inscriptions all over the tomb, Danny having not a clue about where they start or end. Sam notices her friend enraptured by the marks on the wall and flips open the book in her hands. She skims though tomes of ancient curses and spells, soon finding the section on Pariah's Keep she's looking for. With a quick skim of the page, she finds her mark on the markings and begins reading. "According to the book, the markings on the wall are a legend that ends with a prophecy. It's never been fully translated, as the words in the legend are inscribed in a hybrid of multiple languages that are long dead."

Danny continues to run his hand along the wall. His core flickers with some sort of excitement as he takes in the writing on the wall before him. It's unnaturally surreal, feeling his core pound in his chest like his heart, fluttering with energetic excitement. Still, Danny doesn't know what it means, just that it's important.

And then, he could read.

In a sudden moment of understanding, Danny can read what's been inscribed on the walls with striking clarity. His core pulsates in his being faster as his eyes grow bright with the ancient power slumbering in these walls. Below him, the rest of Team Phantom takes a step back from their bright companion in caution.

"Danny? Are you ok?" Jazz calls to the Halfa, who only turns back with near soulless eyes and nods to her. His attention is diverted again as Sam quickly flips through her book to figure out what's going on with her friend. She comes up empty handed as her friend darts to the top corner of the room, to the beginning of the tale.

 _"This shall be a record left by the last of our dying species,"_ Danny reads aloud in an authoritative tone, as if overshadowed. His eyes and aura glow bright and burning as he reads the words in english, but an echo of the original language is heard in the undertones. A ghost language long forgotten.

_"We are of hyrbids. Fusions of two dimensions to bridge thine gaps and bring peace to the connected realms. Our will and duty has been most sacred in the ghost zone for millennia, as the ghosts of beating heart. We were honored and respected across both realms for our strength and power. But the dawning of a new king as left us in dwindling."_

_"The ancient artifacts crafted by us. The crown and the ring. They havt fallen into the hands of evil and fear. Armies have risen against us on both sides, both realms unified to dispose of only us. As the last of us continue to vanish, all we can leave our crumbling world is a prophecy in the speak of only our kind."_

Danny moves to the sarcophagus, to follow the inscriptions etched into Pariah's tomb itself. His teammates watch in awe of the spectacle. Danny had never been a master storyteller, but whatever had begun to compel him was doing a damn good job of making him one. Gloved hands move to the head of Pariah's tomb, Danny's voice cutting through the silence again.

_"Markked be thine stone tomb, demon. Markked with thine fate and misfortune._  
_Sleep within this place as we fall to your reign, but know of the fury you hath unleashed._  
_For as you slumber in death and dark, be wary the words we make and mark._  
_One day shall come when you wake, fear its date, make you quake._  
_When you wake from your eternal slumber, our sun will rise again._  
_A boy will descend from two our lines, reawaken the light that will blind your skies._  
_And as you fight tooth and nail, your will to stop him shall surely fail._  
_You'll loose your crown, and lose your ring_  
_And bow before the Half Ghost King."_

Danny finishes the mantra, falling at the feet of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. The rings of his transformation take to his core, and Danny is left shuddering in human form. Even now, he can still read the words inscribed on the tomb of Pariah with clarity despite his core being drained.

Sam and Tucker rush to Danny's sides and help him to his feet. The young halfa keeps himself steady as he takes in the sarcophagus once again. After he's recovered, Danny quickly morphs back into his ghost half, which is more preferable in the ghost zone. Team Phantom stay at his side as he moves outside with them.

A bunch of ghostly blobs had gathered around Pariah's keep, just seeming to float there. The skeletons at the gates have awakened, causing the team to jump a bit, but it's obvious they're not doing anything but standing there. Danny holds out a hand to push one of the skeletons aside.

It moves out of the way in the silent command. The other skeletons bow.

"Trippy," Tucker comments as they navigate the parting sea of semi-sentient ghosts. Danny nods in agreement as they reach the perfectly in tact Specter Speeder.

 _"I suppose Vlad wasn't the first Halfa after all,"_ Danny comments, not noticing he isn't speaking English in the slightest. He does when his teammates give him puzzled looks, though. And though he attempts to speak English, the best he can achieve is a Shakespearian rendition.

And as cool as it is to learn that Halfas were a significant thing in the past, Danny dealing with the fact that he just learned fifty dead languages including an exclusive Halfa Speak that only he and Vlad may understand does not have him very excited to relearn how to talk in English.

 _"Estos longa semajno..."_ Danny mutters in Esperanto*.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Translated as "It's going to be a long week."


	5. Two of a Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Specter14's Prompt
> 
> Mentor/Good Vlad AU - Instead of playing the role of a villain, Vlad instead helps Danny control his powers and keep his identity secret however he can.

Danny isn't expecting too much out of the college reunion his parents are dragging him and his sister out for.

Late night ghost fighting is beginning to interfere a bit heavily on his personal life. Dropped grades, late nights, shirking from his other chores, thank you very much, Dad. It's getting to a point of needing a family talk in his mother's opinion.

Said family talk now leads to this. A cramped three days in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, all the way to Wisconsin of all places. A very less than thrilled Danny can barely sleep on the metal flooring in a thin sleeping bag, knowing that this was going to be a long week.

They all arrive at a large castle on the edge of Wisconsin, both Danny and Jazz happy to leave the stuffed and stuffy RV after three days of Jack's ghost nonsense. The castle itself was large and quite fancy, this Vlad Masters that Danny's father was talking about must be as loaded as they say. 

Danny has a pile of suitcases in his arms as they walk up the cobblestone steps. They're quite heavy, so Danny decides to use his new powers to cheat a bit to get them in without anything collapsing, himself included. 

His leg turns intangible for half a second, but he's quick to cover it up. These slip ups tend to go unnoticed, especially with the family so enamored in the suited man who had walked out the door.

Danny and who he assumes to be one Vlad Masters lock eyes. The younger gives the older man a sheepish smile as he hobbles in with the suitcases.

"Just leave those at the door, young man. I'll have my attendants carry these up to your parents room in just a moment," Vlad tells Danny, who nods and lets the ghostly strength fade from his human body. Superpowers do have their perks.

"Thank you, Mr. Masters," Danny sighs, stretching his arms a bit. Vlad smiles warmly at the boy before him.

"Please, call me Vlad. We're all friends here, aren't we?" Vlad offers a hand to Danny to shake, the boy in turn moving to oblige.

His hand turns invisible as he focuses on the one he was about to shake with Vlad's own, and he swiftly holds the limb behind his back, hoping and praying his parents don't look in his direction.

"Danny!" He squeaks as he grabs the offered hand. "My-my name is Danny, it's nice to meet you, Vlad" he stutters as he tries to equal his focus on his hands and the rest of his body. If he doesn't know where everything on him is at all times, his powers start acting up.

Thinking like a ghost is hard, and quite frankly, mentally exhausting.

Vlad, however, seems to perk up with a bit of surprise. Did he notice Danny's hand? The thought causes him to shiver. The taller man puts a hand on Danny's shoulder, patting him on the back before walking over to Jack and Maddie for some small talk.

"I'm so sorry we couldn't visit sooner, Vladdie! I know we only had one hospital visit, but after Jazz was born we got too caught up in making money to sustain everyone," Jack pats Vlad roughly on the back, causing the suited man to stumble a bit uncomfortably. Still, he smiles at the older man.

"I still got all of your calls, Jack. Even if I myself was too busy to answer them in my current success," Vlad replies. "I suppose adult lives after our little mishap in college seemed to be intent on pulling us apart, though that is what this reunion is for. To reconnect with those we lost in our busy lives here in my castle."

"What's with all the green and gold?" Jazz comments across the room. "He has billions of dollars! I'm sure he can afford an interior designer.."

Danny snickers, remembering his fathers rants and cheers on the couch through days of football games. "Come on, Jazz. Jerseys, footballs, cheesheads? He's a Packers Fanatic," he states matter-of-factly, folding his arms.

"Ah, fanatic is such a negative word," Vlad interjects, patting Danny on the head. There's this knowing look in the man's eye that has Danny a little on edge, the cluster of energy in his chest flickering a fair bit in Vlad's presence. Almost like a ghost sense, but not nearly strong enough to stir a noticeable reaction.

"I prefer the term enthusiast," Vlad leads Danny over to a football, with writing on the side. He begins to drone on into football and sports talk. Danny himself slowly looses interest, being more in tune with video games than actual sports, and the football team at his own school consisted purely of meatheads.

Jack looks at the ball in awe at what Vlad is saying. "That's his signature alright! You're one lucky man, V-Man!" Jack claps him on the back again, causing Vlad to flinch. He carefully places the ball back on its stand.

"Yes, well," Vlad sputters, regaining his composure. He brushes himself off. "I'm sure it's been a very long trip here for you and your wonderful family. There are bedrooms on the second floor with a bathroom at the end of the hall if you wish to freshen up."

As the family leaves, Vlad grabs Danny's arm. "Wait just a moment, young man. There's something I wish to speak to you about in private."

Danny, knowing he has the power to worm his way out of any kidnapping, unless the kidnapping is done by ghost hunters, decides to agree in following Vlad. This irksome feeling he has about the man needs to be solved, in case there are any plans to hurt Danny's family.

They come to a wall and a massive portrait."In all my years, I never did think there would be another like myself," Vlad sighs, turning back to Danny. The boy tilts his head at the implication, before Vlad turns himself intangible and walks through the wall, a striking realization hitting the younger.

He blinks twice, before swiftly attempting to will his whole human body intangible. He whoops when he succeeds, moving through the wall and only making it half way when corporeality returns to him. Danny's eyes widen as he pushes his arms into the brick, his legs flailing on the other side of the wall.

Vlad stifles a chuckle, before walking over to the boy. "I would have figured you were still learning the basics of the power in your physical form," he pats Danny on the head, the boy glaring at the older man.

"I know it's quite exhausting, but focus more on your upper body until you're all the way through," Vlad instructs. Danny begrudgingly complies, focusing on turning his lower half intangible before pulling himself the rest of the way through the wall.

"When my followers started to give me reports of another hybrid myself, I hardly believed them. Another, like myself, both human and ghost. Impossible, from all records, and yet here we both are," Vlad hums, helping Danny off the ground. The younger dusts himself off, looking to Vlad again.

"Dad mentioned you had an accident in college..." Danny mutters, unsure. Did his parents know what was increasingly more obvious about Vlad. Another half ghost...

"Yes, but quite like yourself, I have been secretive about my hybrid status." Vlad sighs, putting an arm around Danny. "Daniel. You are on the precipice of a rabbit hole you are very much unprepared for. Things that come with being a Halfa are dark and dangerous, but most of all, irreversible. Separating your two halves would only cause more trouble than you've already landed in."

Danny nods. Already the ghosts coming out of the portal are becoming more powerful, taking longer to beat, throwing him through a loop that he still can't stop. Things for him are taking a downward spiral, and to hear it's only the tip of the iceberg leaves him with a sinking feeling.

"It may be a lot to take in for one who hasn't truly grown up yet. It's a fair share of responsibility too. But, I have a proposition," Vlad tells him, showing him to a seat in the secret room. Danny sits, listening intently.

"Let me train you." Vlad asks with finality. "I have heard of your ghost portal in the basement from my attendants, and I could visit once a week at a convenient timing for the both of us. And with my power, we could be useful allies to each other."

Danny listens. "What's in it for you?" he asks with some skepticism. He's just meeting this other hybrid today, and doesn't know if he should trust this stranger.

"All I am is asking is another to confide in," Vlad sighs, tugging the lapel of his expensive suit. 

"I have gone many a year as the only Halfa in kind. Twenty years of turmoil and loneliness in two worlds that do not want me. You, my child, are the only one who may ever understand the plight of ghosts such as us."

Danny ponders Vlad's words. Would the older Halfa remain true to his words? Perhaps a coach for the young halfa would be to his benefit.

"Alright, you have a deal. But if you try anything at all that threatens my town or family, you'll regret It." Danny decides, taking a deep breath. He hopes that he's made the right choice.

Vlad smiles fondly at this. "Thank you, little badger. You don't know how much this means to me," he says in a soft tone.

"So, where do we start? We have all night to do some training!" Danny declares quickly, instantly excited to learn from someone just like him.

"That we do. I suppose we could start with getting those powers under a bit more control, hmm? Wouldn't want a slip up nearly revealing you to your ghost hunting parents?"

"Right, right...." Danny mutters sheepishly as he joins Vlad in the center of the room.

From that day forth, a bond formed between the two halfas, student and teacher. The college reunion went off without a hitch, Vlad ready to welcome the Fenton's and his new pupil back any time.

When the day came, the declaration to call "Inviso-Bill" public enemy number one was completely undermined by Vlad Masters, a billionaire who used the evidence of overshadowing all over town to declare Danny Phantom innocent.

The circus came to town, and again, mysterious forces declared the innocence of Danny Phantom, fragments of the hypnotizing weapon discovered under the train bridge and analyzed.

And every few weeks, Vlad Masters would come over for tea with his friends, watch the game with Jack, and head off with Danny to teach him something new. Danny took the lessons in stride, doing only harmless things and pouting whenever Vlad would suggest anything less than moral.

"You are a much better man than I," Vlad tells him one day. Danny looms over him in a heavy ecto-skeleton, ready to face the ghost king. Vlad had been injured in the previous bout and was unable to pilot it himself.

"What makes you say that?" Danny cocks his head in Vlad's direction. The controls attached to his neural pathways drop the suit closer to Vlad's eye level while the man sighs.

"I've learned a lot from you too, Daniel. Ever since I have been given these powers, I have thought of them as a curse, driving me toward... less than desirable courses of action. Being able to train you these passed months have shown me that there is good that can come out of them. It was never the power driving me toward evil, but my own self. I don't want you to forget the lesson you have taught me, young man."

Danny can only nod, before a shock wave knocks both halfas and the other members of Team Phantom through a loop as the Ghost King bellows above them.

"Well, that's my cue..." Danny mutters, rising to his feet. "Tuck, I need you to drop the ghost shield on my way out, okay?"

"Okay. Be careful, dude..." Tucker says with finality, adjusting his PDA to control the shield as Danny changes from physical to spectral form. His friends and mentor all grin below him as he soars into the air, the name Danny Phantom on the lips of everyone watching him leave.

Vlad smiles fondly. It was his choice whether or not to be good or evil. And thanks to Danny, he thinks he's finally made the right choice in the end...


	6. Ectofluenza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aggressivelyclueless' prompt
> 
> Ghost Virus: Danny catches Ghost Flu. It's like the regular flu - but way worse, probably deadly, and it starts by affecting his ghost powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings:
> 
> Johnny is a potty-mouth. Swear warning.

It starts with a sniffle.

Danny is in the lab when his parents are experimenting one day. They are both doing many different things to the slimy substance, with filters and isolating the molecules and other such scientific jargon.

"Danny! You can't be in here without a hazmat suit today!" Maddie cries out when she sees her son in the doorway. "You could get ecto contaminated, please pull one on before you inhale any more, sweetheart."

Danny elects to pull on an orange hazmat in his size, strapping in the belts to make the thick, elastic material fit his form better before his mother puts a gas mask on him, to keep him from inhaling the ectoplasm they're experimenting with.

Danny knows the entire gesture is pointless. With his... condition, that his parents are still in the dark about, it isn't really possible for his human body to get more contaminated. But, he has to, in order to keep said parents in the aforementioned dark.

If this is what they do to base ectoplasm, what would they do to him? The thought sends a shiver up Danny's spine. Under the gas mask, he sniffles.

It's cold and flu season around lovely Amity Park. Tucker had caught the flu yesterday, and Sam had a cold the day before, so Danny's been extra cautious about washing his hands. Despite his supernatural immune system, he doesn't want to risk sickness on top of his already hectic life.

Jack blathers on and on about the ecto experiment in front of him, arm around Danny's shoulders as he excitedly explains what he's doing. Isolating impurities in the ectoplasm, he had told Danny, though microscopic flu bugs continued to interfere with his work.

"Don't be ridiculous," Maddie chimes in. "Ectoplasm and biological matter don't mix. There's no such thing as a ghost flu! The ectoplasmic radiation would just kill the cells!"

"Whatever you say, Mads!" Jack replies, pulling Danny closer. "Though despite what your mother says, I still see some base form melding. Careful with your mother's samples in case she causes a ghost epidemic."

Danny nods. He knows full well that ectoplasm and bio matter can mix, even if under very conditional and extreme circumstances. Though he shouldn't be the one to say that, lest his secret be exposed to his parents. Would they give him a ghost flu to see the effects?

No. No, he's a human being. A flu bug isn't as complex as he is and probably would just be destroyed in an ectoplasmic environment. No such thing as a ghost flu, ghosts can't get sick at all! He chuckles at that before washing off and heading up the stairs.

He sniffles again. Just a stuffy nose, nothing to worry him for. He knows his advanced healing would cause the feeling to pass soon enough, and then he would return to life as normal. Ghost fights and afternoons at the Nasty Burger.

A shiver passes up Danny's spine, a blue mist alerting him to the presence of a ghost invading the town. With newfound determination steeled, Danny wills the cold of his core forward and transforms into his ghostly alter ego with ease, soaring through the roof.

Johnny 13 and his shadow are tearing up the mall when Danny arrives. Though they both seem a bit panicked, sliding through the mall in a bit of a scuffle with passerby customers.

"There you are kid!" Johnny slides his bike to where a now very miffed Phantom is standing. "Look, my anniversary with Kitty is coming up like tomorrow, and she's going to end me if I don't bring her a present worth her affection!"

The ghostly teen grabs Danny by the front of his jumpsuit. "You gotta help me, man! I need an opinion, stat, and then I'll be out of your white locks faster than you can think it!"

"Alright, alright, I get it. I'll help you find a present!" Danny declares, letting Johnny put him down. "Hopefully before the place falls over..." he mutters as they start looking though the stores.

They finally find something an hour later, a fancy ring with a black kitten on the front of it. Danny smiles as Johnny revs his motorcycle to leave, when the Fentons bust through the wall.

"Freeze, spooks!" Jack calls, aiming a large weapon at them as Maddie steadies her own aim.

The moment Jack shouts freeze, however, Danny feels a heavy pressure build in his nose. He recoils, and even Johnny is looking at him a bit befuddled.

"Ah....ahh....ahhh....!" Danny's head reels back as his eyes turn a startling blue for a moment. 

"ahCHOOO!" a blast of freezing ice shoots out from Danny's body as he sneezes. Johnny jumps back and his shadow keeps close behind. Danny rubs his nose, not really seeing anything until he notices his parents covered in frost holding broken weapons.

"Damn, pal. I don't think they meant literally," Johnny adds, eliciting a glare from Danny as he takes in the fact his parents are ok. He sniffles again, rubbing his nose.

Before he can think anything else, Danny feels a killer headache come on as he drops to his knees. Johnny is at his side after that, trying to lift the poor halfa up as sweat begins to run down the forehead of the younger ghost.

"Kid? You ok kid? Talk to me, ok?" Johnny jostles him a bit. "This better not be a part of your freaky ass half-ghost bull, okay? You know I can't fix that shit, dude!"

"Half ghost?" Maddie repeats behind Johnny. The hunters have walked up to the ghost that was now shivering on the floor. Johnny and his shadow quickly cloak the sick halfa to keep them away.

"I don't know human crap that well, dude! Tell me what's up so we can get you out of here without being blown to bits by hunters!" Johnny cusses, holding the shivering form in his arms while Shadow keeps the ghost hunters away.

"Heads.... fuzzy...." Danny mutters, feeling the world blur around him. Everything feels hotter and hotter for the young halfa as bright rings snap in place around his waist.

"Why the fuck do I deal with this legendary half dead little shit..." Johnny mutters as he tries to keep the transformation from Danny's parents. But they dissipate shadow with some lights they had with them and get closer just as the rings begin to pass.

"Shit. Now he's the one who's going to end me when he wakes up..." the full ghost mutters as a very human Danny Fenton lay unconscious in his arms. The boy's parents look between the panicked full ghost and the sick halfa, leaving a very unlikely silent agreement to be made spur the moment.

-

Danny wakes up in bed with Johnny, Kitty, Frostbite, his sister and his parents in his room. His head feels stuffed full of cotton and his lungs are on fire, but he's awake and he can still feel the heartbeat in his chest. Whatever happened while he was out has left him a fair bit exhausted.

"Ay! I can see his pupils! I think his fever is breaking!" Johnny declares loudly, causing Danny to wince. Kitty smacks him upside the head to get him to quiet down.

"Good morrow, Great one! I see you have finally begun to recover nicely!" Frostbite chimes over the commotion with a big smile on his face. Everyone in the room looks exhausted for one reason or another, and Danny can't find it in himself to remember why.

"What happened? How long was I out...?" Danny mutters, looking around the room, which held an atmosphere of tired relief.

"You went nuts is what happened!" Johnny bursts, moving away from Kitty. "One second we're getting you back to your house and the next you go into full animalistic mode with no off switch! It was scary shit, man."

Maddie shoots Johnny a glare this time, causing the full ghost to shut his trap after cussing in front of her son again. It's obvious he's made the mistake one too many times.

"It's been a week, Danny. The ecto samples in the basement mixed with the influenza virus running rampant around the lab and a stroke of bad luck mutated it into a ghostly sickness," his mother explains, rubbing his soft raven and snowy locks.

It takes a minute for Danny to notice the bangs in front of his face are both black and white, and he slumps into his pillow with a groan.

"Do not fret, Great One. Though you do have a mixed form for the time being, I'm confident your core is slowly learning to fend off the virus infecting your core. Soon you will be back to normal and well," Frostbite says proudly from the edge of his bed.

"The flu virus worked by overshadowing the ectocircular system in your body, taking control of your ghost half while your human half grew too sick to fend it off for a while," Maddie sighs, drawing her hand away. "It took some time, and some unexpected help, but we cured your human half of flu symptoms enough for you ghost half to finish everything off."

Jack smiles across the room. "Then you can get back to kicking some evil ghost butt, son! I'll even let you be my sidekick!"

Johnny scoffs. "Him being your sidekick? You better flip that around outta respect for one of the most powerful ghostlings I've ever met pal. The kid is gonna be a force to recon with when he matures."

"I just hope the damages that Danny caused in his little rampage get cleaned up. The human world is lame when it's in shambles," Kitty adds, giving Johnny another look. Johnny rolls his eyes and tenses in turn.

Danny flinches at that. "It wasn't too bad, was it?" he asks, feeling a soreness in his limbs.

"You're lucky ya got a good obsession in that core of yours. I don't know where we'd be if your protective nature hadn't kicked in long enough to get you somewhere safe," Johnny sighs, remembering the bout. Phantom snarling and roaring while the virus took over his core, freezing and zapping everything in sight.

"Great. I bet the media is going nuts over this..." Danny whines, putting a hand to his hot forehead with another sniffle. Maddie smiles.

"Don't worry about that. Thanks to our expert opinion when we gave a statement to the media, we made sure the world knew it was a sickness and not actually you," she sighs, happy to help her son. "Though I don't know the full story yet, everyone else jumped to the conclusion you were sick when the mayor was kidnapped and you stole all those things. I'll want a full story later, but for now you need rest."

Danny nods feebly, finding it in him to smile a bit as he drifts off back to sleep.

Every year after that, Maddie would brandish a Fenton Flu Shot to make sure the incident wouldn't happen again. Not even Danny can skip out on his flu shots now that there was something in the air that could effect even him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vaccinate your kids, or they might turn out to be half ghosts that destroy towns when they get the flu.  
> -Browa.


	7. Experimenting With Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lynse's Prompt
> 
> The Wisconsin Ghost. Plasmius. Whatever name they call him, Maddie has him captured now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings:
> 
> Blood trigger warnings~

Maddie stares down the ghost in the containment unit with pure disgust.

The Wisconsin Ghost. Plasmius. Whatever name they call him, Maddie has him captured now. The same awful specter that continued to torment her family, so much more so than that Phantom has.

Overshadowing her husband, attacking them on multiple occasions, trying to steal their portal and terrorizing the town in order to get after the aforementioned enigma, the monochrome blur that no one can ever seem to catch. But Phantom hardly matters in this moment.

No. Phantom isn't the prize today. Plasmius is. And even if ghosts can't feel pain, Maddie has waited a long time for her satisfying vengeance. She would learn every last bit there is to know about this ghost, making sure to make it scream despite the lack of pain receptors.

Plasmius eyes Maddie lustfully from it's side of the room, pointed and elvish ears pricked with curiosity. Maddie continues staring it down with an evil eye in turn, as she sets up her experiments.

Her note journal is opened, and she begins scribbling notes on the ghost's appearance, now that it was still enough in the containment unit to get a good look. Plasmius continues to eye her, seeming quite delighted with something.

"Plasmius, the Wisconsin Ghost. Humanoid. Sharper fang like projections in the mouth area. Corpse blue skin, intent on being a dracula-esque abomination..." Maddie mutters aloud as she writes.

"Come now dear Maddie. I'm hardly a vampire in the slightest!" Plasmius purrs from his containment unit, as Maddie gives an unimpressed stare.

"Pompous and Annoying..." she growls out as she writes it in her notebook. It's Plasmius's turn to look unimpressed at her words, pointed ears drooping a slight bit. Maddie smirks to herself, already feeling amazing about the prospects she would discover.

Despite her vendettas against this particular ghost, it is a powerful specimen to analyze. Her research is about to be forwarded into the future, and this ghost may not be as key as the Phantom, but it's contributions to science would surely be a step forward.

The rest of the day is spent on observation of the spectral form, taking notes on its behavior in confinement and watching its reactions to certain harmless stimuli.

The results are documented and Maddie leaves the room, closing the portal and shutting of the lab lights.

"Day two. I arrived to the containment chamber early in the morning. Plasmius looked rather confused when I arrived, and admitted it was waiting for another ghost to bust him out. Ridiculous creature, not a single soul would find it here."

She looks up at Plasmius, who is pacing the confines of its container in a dignified manner. Its fangs are clenched in concentration, although ghosts don't truly think, being a mess of ectoplasm and post human consciousness.

It's time to move into today's tests. She puts down the notebook and begins running though the basics. Changing environments and containment fields, watching the Wisconsin Ghost begin to squirm as she continues her work.

The results are documented, and she leaves Plasmius alone in the dark for the night, firmly locking the lab she's using.

"Day three. I got to work late today on some unfortunate circumstances. The mayor of Amity Park appears to be missing, and my husband insisted on taking the whole day to find him. He and Vlad were close in the early days."

Maddie sighs, feeling tired at the prospect of today's antics. Searching for one Vlad Masters the whole day had left her exhausted for the time being. But now isn't the time to give into exhaustion.

She has work to do, and so she gets started.

Plasmius isn't smiling this time. The coiled and fanged smirk eerily missing from the specter's face. Maddie finds it in her to ignore the change.

"Finally decided to drop the act? You are just an unfeeling ghost in the end," Maddie huffs, putting the journal away as soulless red eyes track her movement. The ghost's eerie presence continues to disturb her.

"Not in the slightest, Maddie," the ghost begins, but the huntress shoots him a sharp glare.

"Dr. Fenton, ghost. We do not need to have this discussion again," she growls at the vampirish specter.

"Dr. _Fenton._ " Plasmius spits, the sound of the last name seeming to revolt the spirit. "I'm meerly biding my time in this containment unit. You cannot possibly keep me here forever."

"That's what you think, Ghost. I will keep you here as long as you are useful to my studies, and because of results thus far, that is going to be a very, very long time." Maddie sends another pointed look at the ghost in the containment unit. Plasmius scoffs at her in turn.

"If that is how it shall be, Dr. Fenton..." Plasmius growls out. The day passes quickly, and the ghost is left in the dark.

"Day ten since capture. The ghost is showing signs of slight deteriorating. I m unable to find a cause or solution to this problem."

She has increased ghost zone energy output, left pure ectoplasm in the containment cell and tried to match signatures of the ghost's more powerful readings, but Plasmius continues to grow weaker.

The weakening of the ghost's spectral power is slow, but calculated results show an exponential decrease in the energy, meaning that the rate of deterioration will only grow faster.

Plasmius says nothing on the matter, ignoring any attempts to fix the issue. Red eyes that grow dimmer each day merely glare from where the ghost stands.

"You don't want to destabilize. Tell me how to fix this issue with your ectosignature," Maddie demands of the ghost, who only turns its nose up at her.

"I will not destabilize. Someone will be coming to free me before then," Plasmius replies, spectral voice growing hoarse.

"You continue to insist on this. It's useless to. No one will find you here," Maddie tells him. "Now tell me how to fix you."

"I would rather not," Plasmius turns it's back to her, refusing to speak the rest of the day. Maddie can only groan into her papers, tense at loosing such a fundamental specimen.

She turns off the lights that day feeling rather stressed. Suppose she's on her own figuring out what is causing the ghost to grow weaker.

"Day fifteen since capture. Another day spent looking for Vlad Masters, who is still missing without any trace of his whereabouts. It's been noted that Danny has been giving me odd looks every now and then when I leave for work."

"He does now, doesn't he?" Plasmius chimes in, looking amused for the first time in days. Maddie gives a sigh. The ghost's condition hadn't improved in the slightest, and it was making her more terse as Plasmius grows closer to destabilizing.

The field would suffer a major loss in opportunity when that happens, because despite her searching, Maddie is still empty handed on the solution.

"What do you know of my son?" Maddie asks, raising a brow. If this filthy slime had hurt her child along with her husband in the past, she would make sure the next experiments would be extra excruciating.

"Not much. Daniel is a resilient young boy, if not the most observant. That is all I can say on the matter," Plasmius answers, weakly waving a gloved hand in the air before it drops to his side.

Maddie continues to glare. So Danny has met this scum too. She huffs with dissatisfaction and continues to do what she must for the sake of her craft. The words of one ghost wouldn't do much to deter her.

She takes ectoplasm samples from the ghost and calls it a night. The lab lights shut off and the eerie glow grows dimmer.

"Day thirty since capture. The Wisconsin Ghost is still deluding itself, thinking someone would come rescue it. It has been a month with nothing to suggest an attempt."

"They will come for me, Dr. Fenton. That much I know," Plasmius hisses while she writes, but Maddie has grown used to the ghost's insistence.

It's ecto signature is weaker than ever now. It may not be long before Plasmius destabilizes, so her next experiments will have to come sooner than expected of her research.

Time is limited, so she begins prepping the table and making sure every blade in her kit was prepared for what was to come.

Plasmius is moved with relative ease onto the table and strapped into place.

The last pages of the journal are coated in blood and startlingly hot magenta ectoplasm, the only words being made out were "Screams" and "Mistakes" through the mess on the paper.

-

Vlad wakes on a hospital bed, almost as if the past twenty years of his life were some sick nightmare.

It feels as if he is still in college, on his death bed, as his face burns in painful memories of burning puss on his head and ugly energy in his chest. Burning energy that causes a tight sound to leave his throat.

"Woah, easy Frootloop. No need to tear out your stitches."

The squeaky yet slightly deeper voice drags Vlad out of his episode, his eyes meeting that of emerald and ectoplasm.

"Daniel?" Vlad whispers hoarsely, taking in the tired boy in his spectral form, bags deep in his eyes as he flashes a cheeky grin.

"Save your breath, cheesehead. You're still in bad shape and severely dehydrated. Chill," the younger halfa lightly puts a glove on Vlad's chest, a sharp ache from the contact drawing forth.

As Vlad's vision clears, he notices that he's in his physical form, hooked up to an IV that has an off color reddish substance in it. There's a lump under Danny's white glove, leaving the impression of a bandage.

"You saved me?" the elder halfa rasps, taking in the implications. Danny smiles reminiscently at the words, looking off to the side.

"Dad is the one who did the saving, Frootloop. I just contributed my uniqueness to the matter," Danny replies with a light chuckle. "You could be a rabid piece of evil cheese for all he cares and he'd still save your sorry ass."

"Jack saved me?" Vlad repeats, letting it all sink in. Memories flash in his mind, of thirst, starvation and deep cutting pain, and it's obvious that both hunters know his true nature. And it means they know about their son too.

Danny nods at the words, almost a snarky grin on his features. He seems very pleased at the fact. Though, Vlad supposes that the acceptance enough to save him gives the boy some hope.

"You donated some of your blood to save me too. That much is obvious to me as well," the billionaire points out. Danny chuckles.

"Look, I might hate your guts for what you do to my home and my family all the time, but not even you deserve this. It's not a fate I'd wish on my worst enemy," he chuckles at his little joke before turning serious again.

"But truth be told, I wasn't just going to sit there and let you die when I knew I could save you. We're two of a kind, you know. Halfas are hard to replace, especially because I'm not done with you yet," the boy teases.

"Not done with me yet?" Vlad's confusion grows at the words. What could Daniel want from him?

"Of course not. I'm not done with you until you own up to yourself and stop being loopy, Plasmius!" Danny declares with a smile. He looks rather happy with what he's declared.

"What are you implying?"

"I'm implying there's something good in you that you've lost. And I'm not done with you until you find it in you again." Danny says in a sharp tone, grin dropping. "Think on that while you get some rest, you have to thank my Dad when your in better shape."

"Why?" Is all Vlad can say. "Why did your father save me?"

"He sees the same thing in you I do," Danny replies simply. "Now go back to bed, I want you well rested for the talks ahead, ok?"

"Altruism like yours knows no bounds, child." Vlad chuckles weakly, leaning his head back into the pillow under his head.

"I'm just a believer in second chances. Maybe you should take a page from that book the next time you see your old college pals."


	8. Freaky Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pseudinymous' Prompt
> 
> An experiment in Vlad's laboratory goes horribly wrong. His hands are too small. His body feels as if it went through a battering ram. His teeth feel different. ... He has swapped bodies with Daniel Fenton.

The clash of ectoplasmic radiation is enough to shake the entirety of the mansion.

Two souls are engaged in a most epic combat, battling to take the other down. Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius, two halfas that seemed to be eternally rivaling each other. Metal clashed and creaked as it was hit, neither adversary intent on letting up.

"I should have known you'd come to stop me, Daniel." Vlad hisses as he grasps a smoldering electrical burn on his shoulder. Phantom's plasma ray has really hit it's mark hard, an improvement in skill over the past few years to be certain.

"Figured you started up your freaky clone lab again! I'm here to tear it down before it causes more harm!" Danny declares loudly, holding his side. It is bruised from a rather hard punch he'd taken to it, but it hardly matters in the moment.

The two halfas circle each other, in a sort of stand off. Both glares are filled with bright fury as they stare each other down, waiting to predict the next move. Silence fills the underground laboratory, as laboured breathing fills in the gaps.

Danny then smirks, feeling the ecto energy in his chest slowly building without Vlad's notice, aura glowing brighter as he prepares his most powerful attack once again as he glares down his nemesis.

With a deep inhale, Danny feels electric energy pour from his lips, crashing sound waves echoing across the walls and putting heavy pressure on all the equipment in the room. The Ghostly Wail tears through the metal of the lab with ease, causing things to shake.

Vlad smirks, prepping his failsafe for this situation. Through the waves of wailing he reaches his desk and slams his fist on a button that beeps in recognition. In turn, a large contraption appears behind the younger Halfa, capturing his limbs and locking a band around his mouth.

"Really now, child? Did you honestly think I'd fall for the same little trick twice? As impressive as that attack is, you won't be using it again while trapped like a rat!" Vlad begins to laugh loudly at his declaration, victory finally in his grasp.

With Danny captured in his latest trap, the midmorph DNA sample would be so easy to collect.

As Vlad smirks, Danny's eyebrows furrow in concentration. The glowing aura of the boy turns a bright, ice blue. The metal banding around the younger Halfa begins to freeze and crack, snapping him out of his bonds and allowing him to continue wailing.

The waves of ecto charged sound continue to tear through the lab, Vlad unable to stop the second wave of awful screaming. His hearing fills with ringing as the waves continue.

Things begin to break under the pressure. Chemicals mix and evaporate into a substance that swirls in the pressure as the wailing dies down. Both halfas take more laboured breaths as the chemical concoction enters their bodies, knocking them out....

Vlad wakes up coughing and gasping for air. He hacks at the collection of gas in the room as ectoplasm and the faint sense of fudge creep into his senses.

He grimaced, upset at the fact that the fight ended with less than favorable results. Again, he has underestimated Daniel, and the boy was growing in power far to quickly for him to keep up. Vlad would loose his advantage if he isn't more cautious.

"You're finally awake! Thank goodness, little brother...." a shrill voice calls from across the room. At the foot of the bed, a bed Vlad quickly realizes he doesn't recognise at all, is Jazz Fenton. Jack's daughter.

"Sam and Tucker came to get you after your scuffle with your nemesis and all. You have to be more careful, you know that? I can't cover for you if you end up that out of shape again," Jazz continues, mistaking Vlad for her brother for some unknown reason.

Though it does bring something to his attention. That something is off. Vlad feels feeble, weak, and although the injury in his shoulder is gone, his side is killing him. He winces in pain at the thought, doubling over and clutchi g his ribs. His tiny, tiny ribs that aren't his.

"I guess you need more rest. I'll bring you some hot chocolate later," Jazz decides, slowly getting up and leaving the unfamiliar room, covered in star stickers and model rockets. No, not his room in the slightest. And this isn't his body.

Taking a painful minute to sit himself upright, Vlad takes in his pale and spindly limbs as well as his small, premature chest. He's turned into a child. And not just any child, Danny Fenton.

Something must have gone horribly wrong in the lab.

Vlad growls, hearing the teen's voice in every audible notion, already irritating him further. He has to fix this, immediately. Lest Daniel is taking host in his own body and loosing his companies millions as he speaks. The boy surely knows nothing of business.

Vlad shoves the body that isn't his own out of the bed, decorated with bright blue bedsheets and a very cheep mattress that barely helps the aches in his back. He stretches the small neck that isn't his own to dull the ache in it before heading down the stairs.

The rest of Danny's family is waiting in the kitchen, the smell of chocolate wafting through the house as Maddie stands by the stove and-

Wait.

Maddie.

Realization dawns on Vlad. In this body, there would be no Daniel to interfere with his chances at getting to her. Because he IS Daniel right now. How the tables do turn.

Vlad happily takes a seat by his sister, leaving a chair open for Maddie to sit when she's finished with the hot chocolate. Schemes of getting Maddie to leave Jack through Daniel's body flood his brain, calculating every step.

He hardly drinks his hot chocolate as he schemes, eliciting confused looks from the rest of the family as it's just left to cool on the table.

"Something wrong, Danno? You love hot chocolate!" Jack asks, confused. Vlad growls at the idiot, causing the three in the room to jump.

"Danny! Are you alright?" Maddie continues, giving her son a confused and startled look. It's time to begin his master plan.

"I just wish for a hug, mother." Vlad replies, leaning against Maddie's shoulder. "I'm sick of Dad yammering about ghosts all the time, I don't like it."

All three Fentons blink again, and Maddie grabs Danny's face, eying it up and down.

"No sign of overshadowing, but some thing is clearly wrong with you, young man!" Maddie declares, looking at the boy in her arms.

"To the lab!" Jack declares, quickly slinging Vlad's now smaller form and hobbling down the stairs. Maddie and Jazz quickly follow, the youngest closing the door behind them.

Despite protests, Danny's body with Vlad in it is hooked up to a bunch of tests and wires as a few hours pass in the lab, and the results are not pretty.

In simple terms, his ghost half and Daniel's have been swapped, but not perfectly. His mental functions from both his human and ghost half have been replaced entirely by Daniel somewhere in his mansion, as well as vice versa here.

While Jack and Maddie cope with the revelation their son and their college buddy are both part ghost, and that his actual soul is missing from his corporeal body, Jazz begins making reservations to see "the mayor" as soon as possible.

A frazzled Maddie offers to drive everyone over as soon as possible, not finding it in her to glare at the man stealing her son's body. She's too confused and shakes to say anything, really. The same can be said for the rest of the family

Jazz elects to sit as far from her "brother" as possible. Vlad gives an uncaring sigh as the ridiculous RV drives its way though Amity Park.

They get to Vlad's mansion in silence, Vlad using his powers to activate the secret door key. Maddie looks sick seeing his son's hand halfway into a wall. Jack however seems to light up at the sight, apparently he things ghost powers are cool.

When they get inside, the ghosts are everywhere. Opening the door has released a flood of electronic pop music as all the ghosts appeared to be partying in the foyer. One of Vlad's vultures flies past carrying a milkshake on a tray into another room.

"MY MINIONS!!" Vlad exclaims in Danny's prepubescent yet deep voice. Some of the ghosts look to the hunters that just entered, shrug, and return to partying like they're not even there.

Vlad steams, feeling his eyes turn crimson as he pushes through the crowd of ghosts with his aura, intimidating them with his power as he moves after the vulture carrying the milkshake. The Fentons just follow after their son's body in Vlad's possession, avoiding as many ghosts as possible.

Vlad bursts open the door to his study, seeing his own body polish off a milkshake. The fury ibn the eyes of the real Vlad is unmistaken, while the imposter smiles widely.

"What have you done this time, Daniel?" Vlad spits, regretful that he must do this against his own body. Still, he had to know what the boy has done, seeing the scene in the foyer. And he never drinks milkshakes.

"That's Billionaire Vlad Masters to you, Frootloop! I mean... little badger," Danny teases through his own body, the mischevious smirk not leaving his face. "I'm the bad guy today, so I've got to do evil stuff~"

"Honestly Daniel, this is not how it works..." Vlad sighs in turn, moving the annoying raven locks out of his vision. How does Daniel even see with his hair in his face all the time?

"Yes it does! I'm you and you're me! So I'm the bad guy today! Having the eeeeevil milkshakes of doom and using my rich guy power to get people to do my loopy bidding. That's how being evil works!" Danny replies, smiling wider. It really is a game to him at this point.

"Is that honestly how you see me, boy?" The elder Halfa spits incredulously, putting a hand to his chest in his defence. His flimsy, weak defense. He wants his body back.

"Hey, I'm only upholding your image. I'm so evil I'm having your henchmen trash your house! I said they could party today, and that was one group of happy evil ghosts!" Danny chuckles with childish laughter.

"Wait, in this body I'm like, over fourty, right?" Danny asks rhetorically. "That means I can SWEAR! Haha!"

The younger Halfa looks around a minute before yelling "Fudge Buckets!" at the top of his lungs and continuing to laugh hysterically. 

The Fentons finally walk in after that while Vlad seethes in rage. The nerve of this child using his body! He would ring the boy's neck were it not his own at the moment.

"Danny, sweetheart. It's time to give Vlad his body back, please..." Maddie mutters in a soft voice. All three Fentons are shaking and uncharacteristically quiet. Danny blinks twice at how they are.

"Wait, you told them what was going on?! You didn't hit on my mom using my body, right?" Danny looks miffed shed a bit grossed out at the prospect.

"Of course not, Daniel! You're a minor and I am not an idiot!" Vlad roars in turn.

"Could've fools me," Danny waves a hand with a smirk.

"Daniel James Fenton!" Maddie interjects. "That is quite enough attitude from you young man. Put your ghost half back in its body right now, so we can go home and have a very long talk!"

"Wait, they know about that too?! What the heck did you do these past few hours, Frootloop??" Danny stutters as he looks back to Vlad.

"We needed to find a solution to this problem, boy. Now give me back what is mine so I can undo what damage you have wrought to my own name!"

Danny groans, rolling the eyes that aren't his. "Fine. Let me remember how to do this..."

Both halfas glow with bright light, before two ghosts leave the bodies they are inhabiting. The bodies in turn, fall over on the ground without their souls.

Phantom knocks Plasmius upside the head on his way by. Both glare and growl as they return to their proper bodies.

Vlad's body wakes with a jolt, as he takes in his proper form returned to him. "Well if that is all, then you may leave now. I have your mess to clean up."

Danny wakes up too, brushing himself off before sticking his tongue out at Vlad, flaring his own aura to clear the ghosts as he walks out to the RV, miffed family following with plans for a long discussion ahead.

Vlad sighs, and looks to his desk. Danny had scribbled small drawings of Vlad in disproportionate and unflattering mannerisms while milkshake stains cover the table.

The lingering taste in his mouth isn't so bad though.


	9. Avoidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pipermasters' Prompt
> 
> Danny reveals his secret to Valerie, either on purpose or by mistake. How does she react?

Valerie hates the night shift.

With how often ghosts come out, at any point in the day, she has to leave her availability at work open for any time of day in order to keep enough shifts to make money. Just enough to get by, because she certainly isn't getting pay for ghost hunting.

Luxury is a funny word. She used to have it, a few years ago. She lived the high life, could have anything she wanted, and she had troves of students basking in her popularity.

And then Phantom and his ghost mutt came along.

Sure, it's been years now. She's well passed any dreams of empty cash and popularity, her new duty to Amity Park opening her eyes and giving her a purpose.

But despite her footing on Phantom, she was still uncertain.

At first, she saw an evil ghost. There was nothing redeemable about Danny Phantom. He was just an icon, feigning and facading his way into people's hearts. She knew hos true colors when he destroyed. Destroyed her lab. Destroyed her satellite. Destroyed her suit. Destroyed her life.

For a long time, it was all she saw in him. Destructive. A loose cannon, ready to break anything that came toward it's barrel.

But that changed. There was another Phantom. And that one female Phantom, that one half ghost, that one night flipped everything on its head.

Even in her clutches, even through torture, Phantom begged her to save his cousin. He put her life before his. As far as Valerie knew back then, Ghosts don't do that.

The half ghost, Danielle and Phantom. They hugged when reunited. It was messy and blurry in the heat of combat, but she saw them hugging. Ghosts don't react to affection. Phantom did, he was hugging back.

They left the mansion. Danielle told Valerie she wanted to prank her cousin. Ghosts don't get scared. Ghosts don't have a sense of humour. Phantom jumped when his cousin appeared from nowhere. Phantom laughed along with her.

Phantom was the one who was right about Vlad in the end.

It's been eating her up the past few months since that night. She thought she'd seen Phantom's destructive true colors. But those weren't his true self. His true self is far more complex than that, and it's been bugging her for weeks.

Valerie feels she should know the answer, but she doesn't, and until she knows the answer, it's going to keep nagging at the back of her head until she does.

When her ghost alarm goes off, she knows it's time to investigate. Ghost hunting may help relieve the stress of the day, but learning the truth would help with what she's struggled with on the back burner until this point.

She knows Phantom would come to take care of the other ghost himself. But this time, instead of engaging, the Red Huntress would investigate, and lay this issue to rest once and for all.

With a yawn, Valerie swigs back a cup of coffee as she clocks out, ready to stay up the rest of the night if she has to. Tonight, she will finally see the true colors of the infamous Danny Phantom. All she needed was some practiced patience and a good hiding spot.

Even as her armored self moves closer to the signal, it's obvious the humming of her hoverboard engine would draw Phantom's attention to her. Then he would flee, and Valerie would learn nothing. So, she opts to power down the hoverboard in an alley, silent and still as she catches sight of the ghosts.

Just as she thought.

Phantom is already throwing sharp tongued banter at the other spirit, as they engage in combat around each other. Always fighting, that Phantom. It's rare to see the elusive ghost do anything else. Every time she found Phantom, he was fighting or patrolling the city.

But that's not all he is. All he does. She's certain of that. And today was a day to find out what else this spirit could do.

Finally, the duel reaches its end, Phantom capturing the ghost rather than destroy it, using some sort of thermos device. The ghost is surprisingly merciful to his invaders, considering Glad he will probably see the same ghost a week from now at the most.

"Hopefully this guy stays in the ghost zone a while...." Phantom mutters to himself as he walks into the alley, shaking the thermos device a few times. Valerie holds her breath and hides behind a dumpster as the snow white boots cross her vision.

Phantom hasn't noticed her yet, as he looks around the alley for anyone watching before deciding it was safe. Valerie can only watch in startling realization as rings snap into place around the waist of the ghost. She knows what those rings are...

The cold light splits, travelling in two directions as Phantom's ghostly aura slowly fades away on her scanners. Valerie should have known this was the case! How could she have been so blind to this, especially considering Dani and Phantom are related!

As the rings wisk away the mask that is Phantom, Valerie is left in utter shock of who is hidden behind it. It seemed impossible. If felt impossible, mind numbing even! This could not be the true colors of the ghost she's hunted for this long!

Danny Fenton is not Danny Phantom!

She blinks twice at the thought. Fenton. Phantom. She really is an idiot. Both bastards do love their puns, and now that they're one bastard in the same it's about as subtle as a flying mallet. The elusiveness that comes with even whispering the name Phantom has been a damn pun this whole time.

Valerie doesn't sleep that night.

She could blame it on the coffee all she wants, but every time she closes her eyes, she's pointing a gun in Danny Fenton's face. It was so easy in her mind now. To change white to black. To change green to blue. 

The colors in her mind swirl until the image of a boy named Danny is a mixed up mess of inverted shades in her brain. She tears down every picture of Phantom, Danny, off of the walls of her room. She can't bear to look any longer at the face that's been the same this whole time.

She can't at school either. A boy with black hair moves to greet her the next morning, and she swiftly walks past him, not even sparing him a glance.

Valerie takes the seat furthest from Danny's in class, steaming and stewing on everything she's done since the very beginning.

She should be furious.

She isn't. She can't find any hatred in her now. No matter how much she wants to, how badly she wants to find it in her to strangle the boy across the room for lying to her. She just can't.

Because he's right. He's been right about everything. Vlad, his intentions, himself. Despite what had happened with the mayor, she can't in the life of her put the name Danny Fenton to the destructive streak she thought she saw.

No. Now she sees Danny Fenton, hiding behind a veil. A mask of confidence that he can use to do good. He has done good. Valerie can't seem to count the number of newspapers and magazines she teared the stories out of just to get his pictures. Stories of his heroism.

And that mask he hides behind hits a little too close to home. For she too has that same mask, that same guard to hide her face every time she goes on the hunt. The same security and power of being oneself without the masses tracing it back to you.

Is what Phantom is to Fenton what the Red Huntress is to her? Two personalities that derive from the true self, without actually being the one behind both unless seen from both angles?

Fenton and Phantom are so different. But in light of the truth, Danny wearing a cocky smirk as he jokes with his friends, just oozes of the persona that has made up the ghost.

With a rabbit hole as deep as Valerie is in, does that Danny is deeper down that same hole? Or closer to the surface? With how right he's been from the start, she'd have to say deeper.

How far does this go? Does it ever end?

Valerie has found her answers, but they only lead to more questions. More and more that rattle her mind even further. If she's missed something this obvious, what else has eluded her? Does she even know anything? No wonder Vlad called her easily lead. Easily fooled.

Perhaps even Vlad didn't have all the answers. Perhaps Danny didn't either. So, instead of letting the questions swim, she shuts them off. Ignores any inkling of a greater problem. Avoids Danny, in either form, for as long as she can stand to.

So Danny comes to her. With his own questions. Instead of flying away, the ghost cautiously approaches the Huntress, who seemed to be more interested in lazing on her board with her eyes on the sky than aim at him.

Phantom, Danny, sits on the board with her and waves a gloved hand in front of her helmet. "Hello? Earth to Val? Anybody home under that visor?" The ghost, Halfa, whatever, continues to wave his hand until Valerie pushes it away.

"Are you ok? You can talk to me if you want, us ghosts are pretty good at keeping secrets!" Phantom declares, still attempting to bounce the silent hunter back into action.

"You can say that again, but not good enough apparently..." Valerie replies, letting a breath out of her heavy chest. And it's not because of the armor. Danny's hand flinched back on his own volition this time, ectoplasm green eyes meeting that of forest green under the helmet.

"Wait, does that mean you-"

"Yes, I know it's you Fenton."

"...oh."

That shuts him up. Danny turns his head to his lap before he turns his gaze to the stars with Valerie. He always did want to be an astronaut.

"You can see Orion from here. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are off that way, and the North Star is on the tail end of the Little Dipper in Ursa Minor," Danny points out for no reason.

"Cool." Valerie replies flatly.

Tense silence returns as the two sit next to each other. Ghost and Ghost Hunter. Two friends. Two enemies. But that doesn't really matter right now.

Valerie may never find the answers she's looking for. She can search until she burns herself out. But just sitting here, with Danny at her side as just him, and her as just herself, no mask and no facade, maybe she doesn't need them.

"Remember the Ferris Wheel? From when Technus set us up to break into that satellite?"

"Wait, that's what happened?"

"I guess we still have a lot to talk about, huh?"


	10. Lost and Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pipermasters' Prompt
> 
> Danny is lost, without his friends, without a phone, being hunted by the ghost zones greatest hunter; Maddie Fenton. Possible triggers depending on how you write your fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, semi-inspired by Haiju's "Roughin' It" short story.
> 
> Honestly, go read that. It's way better. These get slapped together in two to three hours one night at a time.

Danny can feel his heart exploding in his chest as he runs for what's left of his life.

All around him are thick forests, leaving him with no sense of direction in the twisted maze he's found himself in. His powers are out, he's stuck in his ghost form, and he can't stop running, not for one second.

"Where are you, my prize?" The sickly sweet female voice sings into the tries, the whine of ecto weapons following her every step. She is fast, silent and calculating. And she was gaining on him.

His own damn mother.

Though she doesn't know that she is hunting her son. What she knows is that Phantom, Amity Park's most notorious and elusive ghost, was weakened and nearly in her grasp. And if she catches him?

Danny is as good as dead. A lab rat at best, destroyed out of vengeance for impersonation at worst. And without his powers, unable to revert to his human form, he's fighting a loosing battle. Like something out of his nightmares. His mother is going to kill him.

Try as he might, his mother is still gaining on his weak and prone form. It's moments like these where Danny wishes he'd taken gym class more seriously. Or trained his human body more often. Or made him any bit more prepared for this situation.

But here he was. On his last legs of stamina, in the middle of nowhere, his mother on the tail he can't form with all intent to kill him one way or another. Can this day get any worse?

Though it seems even the mere thought of those words is the harbinger of misfortune, as in that moment, Danny's foot lands on air instead of more ground. The disorienting step leads to him tumbling off a cliff and into a ravine below.

Curse his luck.

Danny swims to the surface instantly, treading water and attempting to keep afloat with his tired limbs. The rapids quickly wash him away, Maddie clearly cursing his alter ego's name as he drifts further and further away from her.

The shallow waters tear his jumpsuit and scrape his knees, causing more pain in his aching limbs as he pulls himself out of the ravine. The last thing he wants is to get washed into The ocean and drown at a time like this.

Danny sputters and coughs as he pulls himself ashore, every part of his feeble form shaking from cold and pain as he drags himself further away from the rushing water.

The soaked halfa slowly staggers to his feet, leaning against a nearby tree for support. The sound of wild birds screech in his ears as he feathers himself, finding a minute to breathe and quell the intense pounding in his chest and the dry burning only his lungs.

Danny looks up, just barely able to see the afternoon sun filter through the trees, the glow a light orange against the shaded sky. Translation: he has no clue where he is.

He remembers an attack on the town. And Vlad coming out of nowhere. Waking up in the woods powerless and his mother leaping out of nowhere on his vulnerable state, leading to the chase that he just barely survived.

Though it means he should get moving again. Despite the scrapes on his legs and the pain in his body, he's only letting his mother gain the ground she lost when he fell into the ravine. She could come out of nowhere and do anything to him.

With a grunt, Danny begins to limp his way further into the jungle foliage for cover. As much as the guidebooks would encourage to follow the rushing water to civilization, it would leave him wide open when Maddie inevitably catches up to him.

With more time to prepare, the weak Halfa begins covering his tracks whenever possible. His limping could mean a twisted or even broken ankle from the tumble down the cliff, so it's best not to be followed again.

The mere idea of Maddie coming out of nowhere, weapons poised to kill, gives him enough adrenaline to continue into the darkness of nightfall. But as the night gets darker and the foliage grows thicker, exhaustion and hunger begin to invade his thoughts of danger.

Trouble is, he doesn't know where to find a safe resting spot, or food that's safe to eat. Danny's exhausted breaths grow more laboured as his stomach protests and demands food this instant.

A quick check of his pockets confirms he has nothing on him to eat. There's no choice but to trifle with finding out what's poisonous and what isn't. At least until his powers return, he's going to havevto live off the land in this jungle.

If his powers return...

Danny wants to so despratly fly from the trees and go find help to get his mother out too, despite the current attitude toward his ghost half. Danny could never blame her for attacking his ghost.

It's a stroke of luck when he finds a fruit tree. It's full of mangoes, but it would have to do. As long as he finds a ripe one, which most thankfully are, he's satisfied eating the deep orange fruit. It reminds him of his dad's jumpsuit.

The thought causes him to sigh. What even is his dad up to now? Looking for his wife and son? Looking to hunt Phantom? One ghost hunting parent on his tail is enough. Danny misses his parents when he's in human form. Which he can't really achieve right now.

Maybe his mother is taking a stop to rest now? She's only human, and night might be his only time to breathe and begin assessing his injuries.

His leg is definitely in bad shape. And since his jumpsuit hasn't stitched back together, it means that not even his ghostly healing is working right now. Little cuts and bruises may his arms and legs, some red and green fluid leaking from them.

Danny winces at the sight. Normally, injuries like these would heal in minutes, and a few hours off a broken leg would set it and heal it effortlessly. Without his powers, he's on his own. Days alone to heal the scrapes and months for the leg, should his powers be out for good.

The thought of being stuck like this forever makes Danny shiver. He would be endlessly hunted, by humans and ghosts alike, no means of escape from either. No, no it will wear off. Eventually. Hopefully it will.

Danny never been the most optimistic person, has he?

Still, it's much too late in the night now, and a taught yawn is brought from his lips. He prays for his safety tonight, curling up under the shelter of the mango tree and letting the exhaustion in every inch of his body finally win over.

Sunlight creeps into his eyelids and Danny instantly moves to shield them from the light with a groan. "Go 'way sun.... don't wanna go.... school..." the Halfa whines as he covers his face.

"Don't you want to wake up and face the day?" His mother's voice calls playfully.

"No. Five more minutes mom.... to tired...." Danny whines in turn, attempting to roll over. Just then, a spike from his injured leg drags him back to reality.

He screeches and holds the broken limb to his chest with slight whimpers. "Ow ow ow ow.... stupid leg. Stupid broken healing. Owww...."

It's then that Danny realizes there's a makeshift splint on his leg. His cuts have been washed of the dried blood and ectoplasm. The sound of rushing water tells him he isn't under the mango tree anymore either. How did he get back out in the open by the ravine?

"Careful, Phantom. You'll break your splint."

Danny feels his entire body freeze, rigid tension leaking into his nerves. His mom found him. His mom found him while he was sleeping! Hes so dead, any minute now, here comes the killing blast to silence him forever....

"Someone's still in rough shape? Don't worry, I'm not going to destroy you," Maddie's voice soothes, suddenly her indigo eyes appear in his vision, looking him up and down with fascination rather than hatred.

"And that's supposed to make me feel better? Where are the experiments you're going to do, not destroying me?" Danny scoots away from the gaze, an untrusting glare in his dim green eyes. Maddie sighs in turn, smiling at the Halfa.

"You're not really a ghost, are you?" Maddie brushes aside Danny's bangs, getting a more clear look into his eyes. Not all ghost in the slightest.

"What makes you say that? I'm plenty ghost! ....uh.... fear me!" Danny attempts, but he goes back to gripping his leg and whining about the pain. "Ow ow ow ow....."

"Ghosts don't bleed, Phantom. It's the trail I followed to find you," Maddie stands, surveying the ravine and watching the water flow.

"Ghosts also don't break bones. And your leg is clearly broken, probably from falling into the water yesterday?" The hunter muses, before easily hoisting the ghost on her back. Danny tries to protest, but it's much too late to try fighting back now.

"Ghosts aren't heavy. Active ectoplasm is practically weightless on a ghost due to gravity acting differently around them. You have weight. Blood and bones, and who knows what else seeing you under that mango tree, probably grabbing a snack."

Danny hums in conformation. "Alright. Alright. You got me. I'm not a ghost. I've just got the abilities of a ghost, and uh... I don't know how I got them. I just did."

He grimaces. "Or at least I had them. I don't know what I got hit with when I woke up here the first time, but I haven't been able to so much as float since."

Maddie nods along. "Your ghostly aura has faded too. You barely glow right now, if at all. Meaning we should get you to some more civilized quarters and figure out a way to fix it."

"Fix it?" Danny echoes. "You'd help me, a ghost, get my powers back?"

"You're not a ghost, Phantom. Only part one. And right now, I see a scared child no older than my son, injured in the middle of nowhere without anything to defend himself. I don't know how your part ghost biology works, but without your powers your human part is clearly fading too."

Silence follows as Maddie continues carrying Danny on her back. Danny himself tries not to think on the pain, or the awkward air of this turn of events. Instead, he focuses on the fact that Maddie had called him more than a ghost.

It makes him feel oddly validated.

Danny grips his mother's shoulders as she carries him beside the ravine, safe in her embrace once again. The fact that hecwas in ghost form leaves him on high alert though, as he is still partly an ectoplasmic entity.

A never before seen one. And his mother has always been a scientist.

"Miss... uh.... Dr. Fenton?" Danny stutters.

"Maddie is fine now, Phantom. Is there a problem?" The Huntress raises a brow.

"What are you going to do with me?" The ghost hybrid on Maddie's back is tense with fear, shaking a bit. The elusive Phantom becomes more full of cowardice every step she takes. Though it is understandable.

"We're going to find civilization and access to transportation. After we've secured our route to Amity Park, I'll find a way to fix your powers." Maddie elaborates.

Danny visibly relaxes. He sighs and let's Maddie carry him home, drifting off to sleep once more.

Though he's still uncertain as to what fixing him means, and he's afraid to find out...


	11. Binded in Old Parchment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phantasmapurple9's Prompt
> 
> Many ghosts are driven by their obsessions, but why do the Fenton family seem to be so obsessed with ghosts? Is there really an Ancient family curse that began before the time of Jack Fenton-Nightingale? And what does the mysterious flower an old family journal refers to only as "blood blossoms" have to do with it all?

Danny stumbled upon the book by mere chance.

He was cleaning out the corners in the ops center when a thick binded book with a leather backing fell on his head. Danny hisses in pain as the book bounces off him and collides loudly with the ground. The old and crumpled pages flutter with the breeze before settling.

Still rubbing his aching head, Danny puts down the cleaning supplies to look at the book that had tumbled to the floor. The thick book lays innocently on the ground as Danny takes it in his hands and flips to the front cover.

"John Fenton-Nightingale's Book of Beasts and Hunting..." Danny mutters as he looks the book over. It's very old, and if his memory serves from the incident with the Infimap, it's from at least the sixteen hundreds.

Curious now, Danny pulls up a chair from somewhere in the room and begins to flip through the old pages, dust kicking up as he skims them.

Pictures and descriptions of a variety of things catch Danny's eye. There are monstrous wolf like creatures, forest sprites, vampires.... anything you could imagine in a fantasy novel. Danny can even recognize Prince Aragon burning down a human village in one drawing, amulet and all.

Curiosity melts into intrigue as Danny flips to the front cover of the book again. The tattered object spews more dust the Halfa needs to inevitably clean up. Danny sighs at the thought, but continues to focus on the first few entries of the thick journal.

-

"Day 13, 16XX"

"Hark! For thine self hast found the old writings of the Nightingale Family. Frometh mine mother's side, a sea of creatures doth her tales spin."

-

Great. It's in Shakespearean. Lancer would flip if he saw this journal. At least it isn't poetry. Danny would put the book down if it was poetry. Screw that noise, hes had enough for a lifetime since Christmas.

Back to reading, he supposes. As long as he can understand a word this jumbled mess...

-

"Thine mother has always told me of spirits. As I hath expressed earlier, John Fenton-nightingale is of no foolishness! I've always had mine suspicions of their existence. Confirmation has been brought by mine mother. Tis a happy day!"

-

Danny flips ahead, looking at a few pictures before some monster entries catch his eye. The pictures are charted and detailed. He decides to start with the most obvious choice when the illustration of a large wolf appears on the page.

-

"Werewolves (homo-lycanthrope)"

"Creatures known only to exist within realms of the brightest moon. Severe bloodlust overtake time form. Werewolves be defined by large, more bipedal stature. Lycanthropy may be diagnosed in thine who consumes much kill over plant matter."

"Werewolves are creatures that have many ways of strike. Clawed appendages and fangs her their furred hide. Only defense is purest silvers."

-

Danny looks over the page. "Glad werewolves are just fantasy creatures. Wonder why Dad's ancestor documented one like this. Did he think they were real?"

Though Danny's thoughts are dragged to Wulf. An animalistic ghost who can speak. In Esperanto, yes, but he's still coherent if not bulky and wolfish. It makes Danny wonder, was the collar Walker had him wear made of silver?

And Danny saw dragons earlier too. He knows there are ghost dragons. Dora and Aragon as well as their curse ensure that much.

Could everything in this book be real? Every monster documented something from the wills of the ghost zone?

Danny flips further through the pages. Why does his ancestor know so much about this stuff? Where did he learn it and how? Why is this book hidden away from the world, not to see the light of day until he stumbled on it?

Near the end of the journal, a few things become more clear. Too clear in fact, as Danny stumbles into dangerous and personal information.

-

This book has halfas in its documentation. It's right there on the page he's on. And yet this should be something no one should know about. And here it was.

-

"Mine Mother has begun to tell her stories again. She tells me of an old family secret, not to be whispered to any ear. Whispers of spirits who still have hearts that beat."

-

Danny feels his hands tremble. Ghosts of beating heart. That means halfas. His ancestor knew about ghosts like him. Did anyone else in the house?

-

"She hath told me stories her grandfather told her. That his grandmother told him for generations. She hath words of war. A war to eliminate spirits of beating heart."

"We of Nightingale are decendants of one the last spirits of beating heart. Many hath died in keeping the secret from thine world. Her powers be weak, and her eyes merely glow the shades of the sunset for breif times."

"With no spirits of beating heart to hold the balance of the spirits and man, war hath been spurred amongst both worlds for some time. Mother fears the spirits will find an eliminate us. She hath the most risky of solutions."

-

Danny turns the page. A drawing of a bright red rose with a deep black stem is depicted on the nest page. Even in the wrinkled pages, the drawing stands bright and true against the book's paper. 

A blood blossom. An Anit-Ghost plant that nearly took his life. Danny shudders remembering the burning pain the flowers left him.

-

"Mother's remedy. A flower she cultivated for years. She claim that this flower shall cleanse mine blood of spiritual connection, and sever any power of the spirits of beating heart. She has worked hard on this solution. I am willing to comply."

-

Danny feels his eyes widen, silently begging his ancestor not to eat the deadly flower. He knows how this ends though...

-

"The blossoms burned like the heat of thousand suns. Mother was by mine side as I writhed, but I was pure enough to be cleansed without mine death. My body has been cleansed of the ghosts of beating heart, and the full and foul spirits shall not find me...."

-

"The blossoms are sweet now that I've been cleansed. Mother's remedy hath been cultivated everywhere now, so the spirits shant not return here. She has fallen ill, however, and I pray for her safety."

-

"Spirits come through to this world to continue their war. I hath my dedication to the cause of keeping the monsters out of my home. I feel driven and compelled."

-

"The spirits came for mine mother. My heart burns now, with the just for revenge. No spirit shall ever be welcomed here again."

-

"These spirits be of no heart. They are of no true soul and I shall take pride in eliminating any who dare show thine slimy selves here."

-

"There are no good spirit. Their destiny is to war with us. If it us was they desire, I shall comply."

-

"I have grown older now. As mine last testament, I will this book to be passed to mine decendant. The name "Nightingale" shall be laid to rest with me. In this way, perhaps spirits will no longer plague this family."

"Only sons of Fenton may hear the true tale of our family. And soon, may even those fade into legend and be forgotten. The Nightingale now sings his last note."

-

Danny closes the dusty book. He blinks twice, contemplating what he's just read. The book in his hands looks worn. Old but innocent in the near rotted leather cover.

But the book carries a tale deeper than he expected. The tale of a man who was the last halfa. The last nightingale. A war with the ghost zone that lead to the end of the ghosts of beating heart, until now.

It told a tale of a survivor. One last carrier of Halfa blood, to continue the line of unaware descendants all the way to him. To when they will be needed again.

This book holds information. Ghosts big and small that have entered the real world, documented for only the eyes of his family to see.

"Danno? Are you still up here, son?" Jack opens the hatch to the Ops Center. "Your mother called you for dinner ages ago!"

"Hi Dad. Sorry, I got a bit distracted..." Danny replies. He stands to go put the book back in its proper spot.

"Whatcha got there?" Jack interrupts, walking up to his son and taking the book. Thectaller man inspects it up and down.

"Hey! I remember this!" The hunter exclaims. "I got it for my birthday when I was your age! Loved to read it cover to cover to hear the tales of my ancestor. He was a great man, and a great hunter."

"Really now...?" Danny mutters, tensing.

"Yep. I showed it to your mother one day. She told me it was a bunch of untrue fantasy poppycock and debunked every thing in here." Jack sighs sadly, holding the old book by his side as he takes his son under his arm.

"Between you and me, I'd like to think the story of the Spirits of Beating Heart are true. Now let's go get our dinner before your mother scolds us for talking about silly fairytales." Jack grins, putting the book back and heading off with Danny in tow.


	12. Minimum Wage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KingLazarus' Prompt
> 
> Danny is about to graduate high school and realizes one glaring flaw in his life plan: he can’t make money being a ghostly hero. He needs to get a job.

His school record looks horrible.

Senior year, and his highest grade is a C-. End of senior year, and his school record is riddled with absences, detentions, truancy and other acts of irresponsible and uncivil behavior.

And, Phantom doesn't get money to save people. Why would a ghost need money, right? Though that doesn't stop a few frequent enemies from attempting to rob banks here and there. Danny still doesn't know why himself.

But, Phantom isn't a job. It's volunteering at best. And it's not like anyone's going to set up a charity to give a superhero ghost money. Phantom doesn't need a livelihood. And if anyone did, the ghost hunters in town would shut it down just as fast.

So, Danny needs a job. One he can get with his poor student record, no diploma and can compensate him leaving all of a sudden to fight ghosts without getting caught.

It's all lead to this, he supposes. There's only one job on this Earth that would let this sack of sad work for them. Guess he should enjoy these last few minutes of freedom on this side of the counter while he still can.

Danny walks through the sliding doors, that shut behind him moments after. His fate is sealed. Instantly the familiar smell of grilled meats and grease assault his nose, while he grips the poor resume in his hands.

With this sad peice of paper in his hands, he's going to be lucky if he lands even this job. After all, you're screwed if even the Nasty Burger won't hire you.

Danny walks up to the counter, seeing Valerie work the counter on the other side. He smiles awkwardly with the paper in his hands. Val is a ghost hunter too. So if she can keep her job, Danny might just have a chance to scrape his life together after all.

"Hey Danny! How's it going? Haven't seen you since grad!" Valerie comments with a smile. She stands behind the register with her hat and bright red uniform. At least the uniform color isn't bad.

"Hey Val. I was wondering if I got have a job application? I have my resume here and everything..." Danny stutters awkwardly. He shuffles his feet.

Valerie nods. "I'll get you one, and I'll inform the manager and put in a good word for you," she decides, handing Danny a small questionnaire and retreating to the back of the building.

The young Halfa takes a seat in one of the booths, pulling out the pen he brought. He flips the questionnaire open and begins reading and answering the questions as honestly as possible. He sighs, pulling his hair out of his eyes as he finishes over the course of a few minutes.

Danny returns to the counter, to see Valerie and the manager waiting. He walks up and hands over the resume and filled questionnaire and thanks the two for their time. Valerie treats him to a drink on the way out.

That night, Danny tosses and turns, hoping and praying he has somewhere to work soon. If at all. He has nightmares that night of what may happen if his application is rejected.

To say he was ecstatic when he got the job is an understatement. The hours may be mundane, but he could play off Valerie's hours in secret so they could swap ghost hunting duty on the job without her notice.

And it was just that easy. When he was on the clock, Valerie would have free hours outside of work to take care of the ghosts. And when Valerie was working, he was free to take care of any who floated out to challenge him.

They made a good team, even if Valerie didn't know. And it stayed like that for about a year of grease and fries. And that's when things started to become insistent.

Instead of attracting ghosts to the school, the Nasty Burger is the establishment to be attacked every other day. To get to Phantom. To challenge the master of the lair. And the employees aren't stupid. They know there's a connection.

After only a year of work, Danny gets fired over the fact that he's a ghost magnet. Valerie tried to argue in his favor, but even she could see the ghosts targeting him wherever he goes.

Danny sighs. That's it. He's washed up. He got fired by the lowest job on the chain. All he can do is go to his parents and tell them the bad news before he ends up homeless.

He knocks on the door to the Fentonworks building, curled in on himself as his father answers the door. Jack welcomes his son inside with a big smile, and Maddie gives her son a warm hug.

"They fired you over attracting ghosts to the place?" Jack asks in his typical booming voice. "Absolute bullhuey, hey Mads? Unfair to him at the slightest."

"Well, getting fired for such a ridiculous reason is certainly unfair. But not a lot of jobs will take Danny after this..." Maddie sighs, before working up her own solution with a smile.

"Sweetie. How would you like to work for us? In the lab. We'd turn your allowance into a paycheque and you can live here with us."

"Inherit the family business too! I can see it now, son! The three of us working together to invent new things, change the world, sharing family fudge! It's such a beautiful world ahead!" Jack brings a hand to his face and wipes away a tear.

"But I can't really work with my hands like you guys...." Danny mutters to himself mostly, but Maddie brings a hand under her son's chin. She lifts his face to her eye level.

"Don't go saying things like that, dear. You're wonderful with your hands. Don't think I don't see those hand built model rockets in your room when I go to wake you up," she chides. "I'm Sure with a bit of training, you'll be making things in no time!"

"You guys really think so? Even if I still have to leave at random?" Danny questions, a lump in his throat.

"As long as you tell us when you're going," Maddie replies, her eyes full of warmth. She would never condemn her son to a life on the streets.

Danny smiles widely, tears in his eyes. He has a chance, he can make a living while continuing his duty. Nothing could make him more relieved in this moment.

"Now that Danno is back, I say we celebrate over some family fudge! After all, I'm sure you have a lot of ghostly work stories to share if they were willing to fire you over it!" Jack declares.

And every time the ghosts came to challenge Phantom after that day, the whole family was happily there to drive them back.


	13. Can't You Feel It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wolfsongroar's Prompt
> 
> Snow Warning - Maddie notices how odd it is that her son isn't bothered by the coldest blizzard in history.

The wispy winds batter at the windows of the house as Maddie struggles with the shudders, attempting to keep the cold from blowing in.

It is cold, deeply and uncharacteristically freezing out in Amity Park. The monstrous blizzard seems to have come from nowhere, freezing the town to near solid.

After Maddie secures every window in the home, she fills and begins heating a kettle for some hot chocolate to warm her and her family.

Even with every crack plugged and the heater on full blast, Maddie feels a chill in her bones. To take her mind off the freezing air, she turns on the television and swaps to the weather channel.

"Thanks Tiffany!" Lance Thunder shouts through the speakers, turning blue while his teeth chatter in the cold wind. Poor guy, stuck reporting this awful weather. "A-as you can see, a m-masive cold front has swept over the-the city! C-city officials advise winter heavy clothes and to only g-go out if absolutely necessary!"

The kettle whistles, and Maddie gets up from her seat, wrapping her coat around herself as she moves to pour the hot water. She calls for her family to come down the stairs to see her, before the chilling air could cool the drinks too fast.

The sounds of loud footsteps on stairs quickly precede her words, giving her relief as her family shows up, bundled in their winter gear to keep the cold out. Well, all except one.

Danny stood nonchalantly in the center of the kitchen with his usual tee and scrappy jeans, not blue in the slightest from the cold. Not even a shiver moved his body as he stood in the room as the only one not bundled for the ice cold weather leaking through the walls.

The boy seems to blink at the rest of his bundled up family with confusion and surprise. "Is it cold out?" He asks in the most miffed tone, not seeming to notice an ounce of the below freezing temperature in the house.

"Danny, it's at least below sixty outside! Where's your coat?" Maddie bursts with a shiver. The hot chocolate was already starting to go cold, so she quickly passes out cups to her freezing family before the drink becomes useless.

"Don't you feel any cold, son? Even my hazmat wasn't enough to keep this chill out!" Jack elaborates with a shiver of his own, pulling the big coat tighter around his frame.

Jazz seems to signal something to Danny, who in turn pulls out the most faked shiver Maddie has ever seen. "Brr! Wow, you guys are right! It really is cold out! I should go get my... coat!" Danny squeaks, chugging his hot chocolate and leaving the room.

Jack and Maddie exchange glances as Danny heads up to his room to get his red winter coat. It was painfully obvious the boy wasn't cold in the slightest, and Maddie found something stir in her to figure out why.

After she finishes her own drink, Maddie deposits the cup in the sink and heads upstairs to find out the deal with her son. It couldn't be pure adrenaline keeping him warm. It's much to cold for that, and it's still early in the morning! So then how...

Maddie knocks on the door to Danny's room. "Come in!" His voice calls, and she moves info the cold room. A rush of cold air hits her in the face when she opens the bedroom door, and her confusion grows when she finds his window open and his coat still undone.

"Daniel James Fenton!" Maddie quickly rushes across the room to shut and lock the window. "Are you trying to give yourself hypothermia young man?!" she yells as she does up his coat for him, grabbing his mittens out of his closet.

She grabs his hand, only to reel back at the feeling of his hand. Even through her own gloves she could feel the searing cold coming from his skin. A shudder wracks her body. What in the world was that?

"Danny?"

"Yeah mom?"

"I'm no expert on human biology, but I'm almost certain you being colder than the blizzard outside is a bad thing. I'm certain that you should be a frozen ice cube, young man."

"Oh.... uh...."

And then the room starts to get warmer. Scratch that, everything starts to get warmer. The cold outside seems to pick up at such an unexpected moment. Maddie blinks, turning her gaze back to her son.

Only now that the cold was fading did he start to truly shiver. He's even turning blue! He shudders, muttering something. The shivers are deep, worrying the mother beside him. How in the...

"Nowhere to go but out, nowhere to go but out...." he repeats, before the temperature drops again. Danny's shivering stops again, his skin tone returning to a normal pale color. Maddie shivers herself now, there's no way that was a coincidence.

Danny sighs as the cold leaves his body, a thick snow cloud forming right there in his room. The little white flakes begin to dust the ground, the bed and the heads of those occupying the small space. Definitely not a coincidence.

Maddie looks to Danny. He's opened his eyes again as she notes that his normally sky blue eyes are now a more neon shade. Danny's eyes are glowing a brilliant blue, in accordance with the snowy cloud above both their heads.

In all her career, Maddie has never seen a Ghost with blue eyes. They came in shades of red or ectoplasmic green, not blue. So Danny isn't being overshadowed to her knowledge. But he's still generating the cold blizzard, certainly. The eyes are the indicator.

She puts a hand to his cold chest, feeling the flash of a warm heartbeat under the icy skin. Certainly not a ghost. Ghosts don't mimick a pulse. A heartbeat. Her Danny is perfectly alive and safe, but still endlessly generating a wave of cold across the whole town.

Through the heartbeat, a more familiar hum can be felt in time with the pulse. She knows this hum, years of research went into studying this sensation generated under the heartbeat of her son. Though she's never encountered one this vibrant, powerful.

A ghost core. And with every flashing heartbeat, it's becoming clear that the spectral energy is embedded in the heart of her boy. She can just tell by the feel, the flicker of cold and heat under her gloves. The cold and glow are the result of a ghost core embedded in her son's heart.

Maddie drags her hand away. The implications swim in her mind. A ghost core was, in essence, the heart of a ghost. Attached to her own son's heart. A shared consciousness. The freezing air makes sense now.

Danny has the powers of a ghost. His own ghost. A ghost embedded in his own body and attached to his still human consciousness, not post. This is far beyond the scope of simple ectocontamination. Removing a core that embedded that she can sense it in touch alone would kill her baby. Remove his soul.

It's too obvious now. Danny's created the blizzard because his core element is overloading his system. He's preserving his human self in releasing it, but there's just so much energy that it's frozen the town over.

"Danny."

"Y-yeah, mom?"

"I'm going to go find a way for you to vent this energy. The cold is getting unbearable."

Danny shudders violently. Not from the cold in the slightest, but out of fear. Fear of her even. It's obvious Danny is aware of his ghostly core too, and must have hidden this from her because of this fear.

"Its ok, I'm not going to hurt you Sweetheart." Maddie chides, putting a hand on his snowy cold shoulder. The flakes have filled his raven hair, painting it a brilliant white. Coupled with the glow of his blue eyes, a very familiar specter stares at her through blue eyes, instead of the usual green.

Just like the cold, the fear makes sense. They will have a long talk later, but for now it was time to fix the awful cold leaking from her son's body.

She stands the boy, brushing the white snow out of his hair. It returns to it's night black color, and it's just that simple to see her baby again. The mother internally chides herself for not seeing it sooner. Not seeing the similarities.

There's nothing for it now. Right now, her baby's core, his unique and impossible ghost core, embedded in his very heart, is vastly overloaded with icy energy. He needs a way to release it.

And then they can talk.


	14. Nevermore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wolfsongroar's Prompt
> 
> Feathers - Danny helps a raven pass on in comfort. In return, a ghostly white bird forms with the obsession of helping him with everyday tasks, almost to the point of annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings:
> 
> Blood. Animal Death. Spooky the Owl is now Spooky the Raven.
> 
> Also cursing.

Walking home, the sound of a gunshot had dragged him from his route. Shouting and the sound of a small form hitting the ground spurred the young Halfa into action. He crossed the street to the park on record time to see a man with a gun pointing it at a black mass of feathers on the ground.

"Stupid crow! Stop ya damn squakin'!" The man shouted at the dying animal, that thrashed and flailed with the wound. The crisp grass began to dampen with red blood as the poor animal suffered.

Unable to take any more of this horrifying scene, Danny transformed. Now in his ghostly form, he raced across the park to the scene of the crime, fury bright in his electric green eyes.

The man begins to aim his gun at the mass of feathers again, but Danny quickly steps in. He disarms the gun wielding maniac and throws the weapon off to the side, giving a glare to the human.

"What the-" the man starts, beginning to shake. "The fuck are you? Some shitty glowing kid?" He spits at Danny with a growl.

"My name's Phantom. And you've harmed a citizen of my home," Danny replies flatly, eyes bright and blazing. "You must be new in town if you've never heard of me."

"I don't take no orders from a fucking kid. I'll shoot ya, I will! Brat!" The man swings a hook at Danny, but the first phases right through the body of the ghost. Danny smiles in turn, baring his fangs at the intrude to his lair.

"How the hell-" the man swings again. Danny catches the fist this time, twisting the arm of the assailant.

"Didn't mommy teach you not to mess with the dead?" Phantom chides. The man's eyes widen. He tries to wrench his hand free of the white gloved grasp.

"You... you're a fucking.... They saids that was just an urban legend about this town.... your a gh-gh-gh..." the man begins trembling. Danny releases the hand he grabbed, looming over the man.

"Boo."

The man screams, running for the hills.

With the threat slowly leaving his senses, Danny feels himself calm. The energy leaves his core, allowing him to return to his human form. A calmness washes over the empty park, until the soft crowing of the dying raven brings Danny back to the problem.

With a swift blast of plasma, Danny incinerates the gun the bastard left behind. He then turns to the bird on the ground, which reeks of blood to his senses.

The bird turns it's head to Danny. Intelligent eyes meet his own as the creature struggles to breathe. The bullet had punctured the animal's lung, and it is slowly slipping away. Danny takes the Raven in his arms, carrying it away from the blood and under the shade of a large tree.

He consoles the small creature in his arms, stroking it's head as it's life force begins fading faster. He doesn't want anyone else to hurt the animal in its last moments. The black feathers in his arms are soft as the birds struggles for its last few breaths.

People often describe the color of Danny's hair as raven, black as the night sky. With the Raven in his arms so close, he can see the comparison. Such a beautiful creature, dying to such selfish means. It deserves this calm atmosphere in these final moments.

The breathing form in his arms finally stills. The life had left the Raven, leaving a still and cold corpse in his arms. Holding back tears, Danny stands. He faces the tree and bends to the roots, phasing the body of the bird into the ground, blood and all.

He sighs, turning to leave. A raven feather falls off of his shirt. The object must have gotten caught in the fabric while Danny was cradling the unfortunate animal. He decides to keep the feather to remember the Raven by on his way back home.

Imagine his surprise a few days later when a feathered mass of white comes out of the ghost portal.

It circled around the lab a few moments before phasing through the top into Danny's room. It gives the Halfa quite the startle while he's doing his math homework. The ghostly bird lands on the edge of his bed, ruffling it's white feathers.

Danny wearily watches the ghost bird, trying to find any sort of hostility in the gaze of the specter. The bird caws, before picking up the feather of the dead raven and handing it to Danny.

In turn, the boy blinks in recognition of the bird, carefully holding out a hand to the creature. The white raven moves it's head along Danny's fingers. The boy scratches the bird under the chin. Danny thinks it likes him.

"You know what? I'm going to call you Spooky!"

-

Spooky is a useful companion.

Danny isn't going to deny that in the slightest. The ghostly raven helps with his chores most of the time. Danny is happy to let Spooky live their afterlife doing what they want. The bird is nice company, and the snow white feathers are soft to stroke when Danny feels stressed.

What Spooky lacks is common courtesy. Danny's new animal companion is insistent on helping the Halfa with everything. It's nearly gotten the poor bird shot a second time. A third, fourth and fifth, all of which being his parents attempting to hit the ghost when they discovered it.

Spooky isn't allowed to be visible in the house, the Raven learned that lesson very quickly. Though it still insists on standing beside Danny or on his shoulder all hours of the day.

Spooky isn't allowed to be visible at school. Every other student is scared of the bird ever since it lashed out at Dash and the other jocks for bullying Danny. His parents were called, chalking up the number of shots taken at spooky to ten.

Also, Spooky can turn into a bright white Thunderbird. It was an... interesting discovery that left Dash with a broken arm. And Danny thought Cujo was scary when he does that kind of thing.

Spooky isn't allowed to let Sam spoil him. Sam loves the Raven. She even told Danny that Spooky is male, and the traitorous bird almost seems inclined to take her side more than Danny.

Spooky is not allowed to bug Vlad's cat. As hilarious as Danny thinks these occorances are, Vlad's death glare at the previously giant bird shrunk it back to raven size with ease, causing it to flutter back to Danny with ruffled feathers.

Spooky needs to stay with Danny. This one is insisted on by Jazz. She rambled on and on about comfort animals and support companions, and that Spooky helps with Danny's mental stress.

As annoying as the Raven is, Danny finds stroking his back makes him feel better. He can get lost in the feeling of the plumage rather than focus on the stress of the day.

Spooky makes Danny Phantom look good. The media flocked (ha!) to the news of Danny Phantom having a new ghost hunting pet. The bird would pose and show off for the news cameras while Danny cleans up business.

Plus the thunderbird is pretty freaking majestic in all its glory.

So, with rules established for keeping his animal companion, Danny decides that Spooky is a great friend to keep with him. 

Now the Raven is an icon among Amity Park, and Sam's been using the news of the ghost bird to dredge up some animal rights protests around town. Coupled with Phantom's popularity, they turn out better than they used to.

And Danny is quite happy himself. Stroking Spooky while doing his homework keeps his thoughts clearer, as this his grades have risen pretty drastically since the bird came along.

As he sits on the bed, raven in his arms, he can't help but think of Spooky's last moments again. The bird barely breathing in his arms as it passed so silently, bit so at peace. Now Spooky gives him peace, when he needs it.

And he could never enough thank the Raven who lives nevermore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does a dead Raven signify? Eternal Peace.


	15. Check For Stupidity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LettdViolet's prompt
> 
> With Jazz as DM, a DnD campaign consisting of overpowered-homebrew-race Danny, elvish Sam, and for-the-stats Tucker is filled with hijinks that are much too similar to real life.

It is the eve of the blood moon, and our four brave adventurers have finally arrived at Elm Hollow.

With many monsters swirling about the darkened sky, your team takes shelter in a nearby tavern. Many testificates move around the inside of the tavern, some more inebriated than others. You wave through the crowd and head to the tavern.

"What can I get ya?" The barkeep speaks in a gruff voice, moving a cloth along the glass. You all sit at the front of the tavern.

"Four rounds of ale," Rouge puts her mighty fist on the table. The orc's size quickly gets the much more thin barkeep moving as he pours the drink.

"This drink is almost as dark as my very soul," Lilith Chaosbringer, the eleven sorceress comments as she drinks.

The dwarf beside the elf immediately starts to flush. Friar Tulak has always been quite the lightweight. But he does make good company when drunk.

And Phantom is unable to become inebriated due to his race.

"Wait, hold up! This too?!"

Valerie's voice cuts through the dark of Sam's basement. Jazz looks up from behind her Dungeon Master screen at the other girl in question.

"Sorry Val, Halfa class is immune to alcohol," Danny replies with a smug grin, proving his sneakers on the playing table.

"That's so bull! I know he's your brother, but you can't just let him do that!!" Tucker interjects, turning to Jazz. His side of the table is filled with rulebook and dice.

"Sorry Tucker. But Danny went through all this effort making this Halfa class since I came up with the idea. Besides, we're all having fun, right?" Jazz attempts to calm the rowdy players.

"I'm rolling to attack Phantom." Valerie hisses, pulling a D-20 into her hands.

"Intangability check," Jazz replies to her smirking brother.

The dice hit the table, and it becomes clear that Valerie swings and misses Danny. She turns red in the face as the boy laughs.

"Better luck next time, Val!" Danny teases, pulling his arms behind his head. He lazes on his end of the table, floating in his chair.

"Can we return to the game now?" Sam asks, rolling her eyes. She fiddles with the game peice that represents her eleven sorceress.

"Right," Jazz decides, fiddling with the notes behind the screen and clearing her throat.

The adventurers finish their drinks, paying the barkeep the gold peices owed. With refreshments taken care of, you four take notice of a conversation going on behind you.

"I've heard tell of the Vampire living in Bovine Estate. Nasty one he is," a patron at the tavern begins.

"I heard he swiped all the gold in the keep, leaving the townspeople poor. A right thief he is, but nobody's got the guts to stop him." Another adds.

"Not so loud, you tell! I heard the Vampire can hear yeh from anywhere. Watch your trap!" The first adds.

"Mind if I ask what you idiots are harping about?" Lilith walks up to the table, standing with intimidation leaking from her very form.

"Wow, Sam! That's a critical success on that intimidation check!" Tucker exclaims, while Sam smiles widely at the dice before her.

"Meaning?" Valerie raises a brow. She's a bit new to nerd herd junk like this.

"Sam rolled a natural twenty on her dice. Its the best number you can roll, so it's almost impossible for the move to backfire," Jazz explains to the new member.

"We sorry if we disturbed ya miss!" The first patron exclaims. "We was just talking about the Vampire that lives the next town over!"

"Been making a right mess of things cross the land since he showed up. Keeps are empty and towns are in turmoil. Only sense o work in towns anymore is for the bastard himself!" The second adds.

"The next town over? Then I suppose myself and my associates should head over there and slay this supposed Vampire," Lilith decides.

The team all nod to each other.

"Ya best watch yourselves. The vampire knows black magic, and hes gotten many sould to work in his castle yonder Bovine Estate." The first warns.

"His poultry black magic will look pitiful in the eyes of True Darkness," Lilith seethes. Its a vow, as the team gather themselves and leave for the estate.

The party of four easily take care of any threat who crosses their path. Mostly thanks to Phantom and his high magic attack damage. Rouge and Tulak complain the whole way that Phantom is taking all the fun out of the quest.

Ahead is the castle dungeon. Its an elaborate palace guarded with the vampire's dark magic. The monsters are of high level within, and you may find it in your best interest to enter prepared.

"Horror! Look at all thine citizens this fouled Vampire has enslaved in these halls!" Tulak exclaims at the sight of one of the factory rooms.

It's filled to the room with slaves rendered poor due to the thievery if the Vampire. The mills are worked to drain energy from the stones filling the dungeon.

"The darkness has been blighted. Evil is using black magic to defile my element," Lilith hisses. You would have to read her ten page backstory to fully understand that phrase.

"The more time we waste here, the longer these innocents stay. Let us teach this vampire a lesson." Rouge declares as they work their way through the dungeon.

When they finally reach the top, a familiar face us waiting for them. The man they met at the start of their journey. 

Dimire Lordly, Rouge's original employer for her hunting work, smirks.

"Dimire! What in the name of the clan are you doing here?!" Rouge exclaims, taking in her old mentor. He stands and grins.

"Foolish orc. Do you not see? This is the success I have brought upon our clan! Your efforts have made this all possible!" Dimire yells proudly.

"You have defiled sacred magic, Lordly." Lilith growls at the human.

"Innocents enslaved! And a workings of a vampire in twisted evils you follow! Do you not find this despicable?" Tulak cries in anger.

"A vampire? Do you mistake Plasmula to be a vampire? Fools!" Dimire laughs, and he activates his special ability, swapping him to a spectral form. "I am no vampire! I am a Halfa!"

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Valerie pounds the table, and the board peices go flying.


	16. Danny's Worst Nighmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skulking-around-the-phandom's prompt
> 
> Jack Fenton decides to combine the Ghost Gabber with the Boo-merang. Chaos ensues.

Danny's father has been tinkering in the lab all day.

With his mom out getting groceries and Jazz out in her first semester of uni, Danny was content to just eat breakfast in relative silence.

And although there was the occasional hiss of the soldering iron and welding torches of the lab, it was an average sound Danny has learned to tune out over the years. To him, it was a relatively quiet and peaceful morning.

Until what Danny thought was the boo-merang flung out of the lab door and smacked him in the forehead.

He picked the item up off the table, rubbing his now sore head as his father tumbles up the stairs. The jumpsuited man is armed to the teeth as he enters the kitchen, seeing the new invention in Danny's hand.

"Dad? What's going on?" Danny begins, still running his hand along the sore spot on his head.

 _"Dad? What's going on? I am a ghost, fear me!"_ the object in Dannys hand parrots back.

Oh dear god.

"It's the Fenton Gabberang, son!" Jack replies, yanking the god awful machine from Danny stands and holding it up. "This pup tracks ghosts just like the Boo-merang, while translating whatever curses the foul specter is spitting, alerting us to it's location!"

Jack reels his arm back, tossing the Gabberang again. It circled around the room before it hits Danny in the head again.

"Ow!" Danny hisses, slamming his head on the table and gripping his raven black strands of hair.

 _"I am in pain, fear my power!"_ the Gabberang translates. Jack picks it up and gives it a disappointed look.

"Guess I got a few bugs to fix on this baby before I start working on fusing more inventions together." The man sighs, putting the Gabberang on his belt.

Danny eyes the god awful object. "Dad? Can I ask something?" He hisses through the pain in his skull.

_"Father, I must inquire in some thing that is greatly disturbing me. Fear me."_

Danny glares at the machine, just barely keeping his eyes from glowing green. Jack perks up, ready to answer.

"You can ask me anything Danno! What's up?" The man replies, patting his son on the back.

".....why?" Danny groans.

_"I must inquire on the reasons in which you want to hybridize ghost weapins and further endager my already ghost hybridized body. Fear me."_

Jack gives the Gabberang on his belt a most puzzled look. Danny wants to shoot the damn thing. So badly, in fact, his fists start to glow.

"Hybri..... is that why this stuff keeps keying.... into.... you...." Jack trails off, noticing the glow of his son's hands.

Danny quickly realizes and hides them behind his back. "Uhhhh...."

_"The Fenton Gabberange has compromised my secret identity and I really wish to use my own power to destroy it, but will not out of respect for my human father. I am a ghost. Fear my power."_

"Danno, can I ask you something?"

Shit.


	17. Hybrid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'mdeadtiredtm's prompt
> 
> Danny discovers that Ghosts find his mostly human-like appearance (even in ghost form) is, to them, extremely disturbing.

Trips through the ghost zone are always relatively quiet.

Sure, a few screaming would would wizz passed his head on occasion. Ghosts are known to scream and howl with wails and moans. Danny just so happens to break a bunch of stuff when he does his own wails of agony, so he'd rather not.

He never thinks much of it, just another day in the ghost zone. Moans of agony and pain pass by him again as blobs of green swiftly move away from his path. They always seem to be in a hurry. 

It's not that Danny minds, not in the slightest. He just wonders why every ghost around has such a hurry about them when he passes by. Not a single one, with their multiple eyes, or sharp fangs, or many arms, thick and slimy tails, all seem to avoid him.

The only ghosts who don't are allies and enemies. Those who know him from his home of amity park, that attack constantly. One time appearances would rather leave him alone too. It just seemed so strange to the young Halfa.

"Mommy, is that a human?" A haunting echo called behind Danny. He turns around to see a family of amorphous, slimy blobs hiss.

"Don't look it in the eyes!" Another blob growls as they all float far, far away from Danny. The poor hybrid is left befuddled. What on earth- Danny mentally corrects himself- what in the ghost zone was that about?

Did they run away? Because he looks like a human? What is this, ghost zone discrimination? Then again, according to history class, there would be a lot of souls from around those times around here. No wonder this place sucks in certain parts.

Though this new idea of being humanlike enough to scare ghosts has his interest piqued. What could this all mean? Curious now, Danny sets out to find some answers to this new puzzle.


	18. What's Up Phans?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going-Dead's Prompt
> 
> Danny starts a YouTube channel doing extreme stunts and dares, he figures he’s died once already what is a few dares going to do?

Danny took a deep breath, looking for the live stream button on the website, shifted into ghost form before anything else. The last thing he needed was to accidentally be human on his ghost half's YouTube Channel.

He has had an account for a while, but never really needed it for anything. With his floundering popularity in school alone, internet fame seemed to be a faraway goal.

And then Phantom happened.

Not for the first few months of his powers, mind you. The ghost hunting thing wasn't supposed to get as big as it is now. But it is a big thing now, and with high school coming to a close, Danny is going to need some money to keep himself afloat, without his powers.

The press of YouTube stardom slowly convinced him that he could use his current fame around town to build some ad revenue and give him something to work with.

After changing his account info, details and redownloading old space uploads before deleting them entirely, Danny Phantom's YouTube career officially began.

He announced a question and answer session in his first video. It was a set of simple rules, no questions about his past life, his death or any personal matters. And to get the train rolling, he and his friends started spreading rumours about the opening video.

It only took a week, but the questions flooded in quickly through the comments. Danny easily ignored most of the hate threads, he's seen enough spitting at him in reality to ignore a few choice words. That are poorly written at that.

When he started receiving dares, and things to do with his powers is when things really started to kick off. With the money earned in his Phantom exclusive bank account, he set it up anonymously for a place to put what he makes in private, he buys a few cameras and sets up live streaming settings.

Streaming his dares turned out to be an excellent idea. From a go-pro with him to record ghost fights from his perspective, to dares about pranks Danny only dreamed of pulling with his powers. He never does anything too mean, but having an audience laugh with him powers his drive a fair bit.

He thought his fans had adored him before. But before, he was little more than a streak in the sky that fights ghosts. Now there was a face to the name Phantom, and a personality to boot.

And as much as he tries to keep up the noble hero front, the fans know better. His snickers after a prank, his total geek out when he passes a comic book store, flushing deep green when getting compliments...

Their hero was a dork. A dork who also appeared to be an adrenaline junkie, with the number of insane dares he's pulled off. Danny just chalks it up to being dead so that his life isn't in any immediate danger. He smiles and grins all the while, laughing along with the crowd.

Rather, his phans. With the PH. The audience decided on it, but with every stream for questions and dares, he adressed his phans with emphasis on the changed letters. It was dorky, it was cliche, but his phans loved it.

The positive energy made his heart soar. Carrying the invisible camera to ghost fights, streaming functions enabled, continued to bring joy. Even if a particularly nasty scratch tends to get him demonitized once in a while.

Though if there's one thing Danny dislikes, it's that live streaming means he can't edit out any of his mistakes. Including a particularly big mistake. That he made recently. Involving his secret identity.

He got hit with a massive blast in a fight with Skulker. It dislodged the camera with both it and himself tumbling onto the hard concrete as the weapon took effect. It returned him to human form, right there with all his fans watching. Like the second Freakshow incident all over again.

The uproar was instant. Danny hid in his room with the door locked and his windows bolted for a week. His parents were knocking on he door and calling for him constantly, saying they wanted to apologise. Danny's paranoia kept him in the while time.

Not just for his parents. His fans, Vlad, Valerie, the damn Guys in White. No, he'd rather stay in his room and rot then get torn apart if any party out there is waiting to do so. They've had a week to prepare after all. Danny didn't even touch his phone until the eighth day.

But when he did, he is met with a surprising scene. His Phans. All over his dash, clogging the social media of his human and ghost form, was a tidal wave of overwhelming support firm thousands upon thousands of his phans.

"Saw the reveal, looked up the social media for Phantom's human side. Ngl, the boi looks even more adorbs as a human."

"I never saw that coming! Total plot twist! The superhero has a secret identity!"

"Is it just me, or is the fact that Phantom has a human side making him more lovable?"

"Will we get to see his human half more often?"

"Me: ✨✨✨ *throws sparkles at Danny*"

"How can you not love that face, no matter what color it Is?"

"He's unpopular in his human form? Shame on everyone in his school, this child is amazing!"

"Apparently the government is freaking tf out? They ain't touching our ghost with a fifty foot pole."

"#keepthephandomalive"

"Joining a protest against the government. Fuckers think they can take our dork away."

Danny continues to scroll through each and every message. Every positive remark about him, both sides of him, warms his heart. Pictures of the rallies to protect him, a bunch of art of him in his human and his ghost form, and a bunch more dares and questions in his support fill his heart.

It takes him another day, but Danny sets up his streaming equipment in his room, turning on the lights and letting his computer hum as he logs into his account. This time, though, is different. It's time to face his phans as himself.

When he boots up the live streaming on his account, he doesn't shift to his ghost form. He smiles a soft smile, still filled with fear of what might happen. But maybe, just maybe, those watching and waiting for him will help him overcome it all.

The stream goes live. Danny grins as wide as he can, ready to show his support to those backing him.

"What's up, Phans! It's Amity Park's most elusive half ghost!"


	19. Happy Deathday Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ectopal's Prompt
> 
> Danny finds himself stuck in a timeloop on the worst day of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tie in prompt with "Happy Deathday, Danny!" (Prompt 3)
> 
> Major Character Death Warning

So this is how he dies.

Not an epic display of powers, clashing to the death with an opponent who's finally managed to outmanuver him. There's no crowd cheering and gasping. No show to be had as he curls into the tight getting, cold steel pressed against his heart.

His mother marvels at him for a moment, her hand firm on the trigger as he tries his damned best to get through the thick netting. Not a string budges as he squirms and kicks.

He doesn't want his mother to kill him.

Tears are blurring his vision. His mother prattle on dissecting what will remain of him. Those thoughts, the deep laced nightmares that plagued him for years... they are about to come true.

The gun is poised to fire at his chest, the humming blocking his ears as raw terror grips every fiber of his hybrid being. April 3rd was poised to be the day of his death, years ago and now.

And no matter how desperately he begs, his life is in vain as the same kind of ectoplasm that scorched his form shears him again, finishing the job it started.

*BANG*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny sits up with terror, gripping at his chest.

The aftershocks of the accident ripple through his memory, as it feels like he's died all over again. Another nightmare. Another fear built from the paranoia manifested into his subconscious. The ones about his parents are by far the worst.

The recent dream felt too real, leaving him gasping for breath. Needing to breathe, he's still half human. He's still half human. He can breathe, he can feel. He's not dead.

It's April 3rd.

Danny figures the nightmare is the result of the date meticulously burned into his head. The mere thought of the day his ghost half formed causes his chest to heave and the skin of his body to burn ever so slightly, like a sunburn that won't fade.

Danny finds his breath. It's okay. Sam and Tucker would be coming over soon, and they would all spend a day near the portal. 

Closure. It's what he needs on a day like this. To put it to rest so his chest stops aching and the skin stops burning in his memories, filled with green light and deep pain.

Jazz is already waiting for him. Just like in the nightmare. The uncanny resemblance to previous events in his dream causes him to shiver. Jazz misunderstands the situation, assuming he's hung up in the date rather than the nightmare.

Mom makes pancakes with love and care. No, no that wasn't the mom from his dream. His mother loves him more than anything else in the world, and his subconscious is being ridiculous.

The pancakes are delicious, it helps Danny take his mind off of today until Sam and Tucker arrive. They successfully shoo the adults out, like in the nightmare, leaving Danny some time to take his spectral form.

They arrive in the basement. The portal is opened, and the three sit and stare into the emerald, swirling abyss. Danny doesn't feel closure yet, but perhaps it's the paranoia of the recent nightmare etching the back of his mind today.

But then the footsteps thunder down the steps, and his mother brings the ecto gun. Danny flees while his friends scream.

But it's not enough.

Maddie has been waiting years for this day. There's no love for him in her eyes as he pleads through thick netting around his limbs.

She never listens to a ghost.

*BANG*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

It's no coincidence now. He's seen enough stories with the presence of a time loop to know that this is what's happening. He's stuck. Trapped in a day's time, with no way to move forward until the fates of the universe allow it.

And until then, he's going to relive the Deathday where his own mother is the one to kill him.

The pancakes are the same as last time, filled with love and care. But the love seems a bit lost on Danny as he contemplates the situation. He doesn't want to let this sink in, on top of everything else he would endure on this cursed date.

Sam and Tucker arrive. His parents leave the house. His friends and sister surround him with love as he goes ghost, easing the pressure of the day a small margine.

He tries to explain the looping, but they don't believe him.

They don't even get to the basement when his mom comes in again, ecto weapons charged and blazing.

"Leave my family alone, you filthy ghost," Maddie hisses with venom and hatred. Danny feels his eyes widen. She's in the loop too. 

He raises his hands but the weapon is already prime to take the killing shot.

"Wait! You don't get it! If you kill me it'll just start ov-!"

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

He's trembling. The murder on her mother's eyes, directed at him is terrifying. The image of her killing him three times now is engraved in his psyche.

He can't feel the care she puts into breakfast this morning, he's still too shaken.

He sees her plotting. Plotting his demise for a fourth time.

She succeeds.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

He sees his mother protesting to leaving the house today. He can't stop them.

Maddie's plot succeeds again.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

Maddie insists she and his father stay home today. They leave anyway.

Danny feels like he's going to vomit up the pancakes as he's shot in the chest again.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

The pancakes are rushed, his mother is busy with something.

There's a trap for his ghost today.

He should have figured.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

He doesn't want pancakes today.

His mother enters the room, and Danny can't bear to see the deadly look on her eyes.

He leaves and comes back as Phantom.

Something makes her hesitate this time.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

It doesn't hurt as much anymore. In fact, he can barely feel his own body as memories of the loop fill his head, his mother still glaring.

It's not scary anymore. He just knows he's stuck with it.

He doesn't even bother touching the pancakes on the breakfast table.

He helps her aim this time. Maybe this next shot will make the day end, for good.

"Go ahead, I don't care anymore."

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

When his parents leave, he smacks the plate of pancakes on the ground.

He proceeds to meet Maddie as Phantom immediately after.

He feels numb as he points to his chest.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny gasps, gripping his chest.

His mom looks just as exhausted as be feels.

He doesn't bother staying for breakfast. 

He instead holds out his arms and waits to be shot at.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

He turns to his ghost form right after his parents leave.

Jazz is horrified watching him carve a target into his chest. 

The green ectoplasmic blood makes it look like a neon sign when he floats up to his mother.

"For the record, I'm worth more than fifty points, mum."

The joke isn't even funny to him.

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

It's still the worst day of his life. Everything about this day was evil, damned to he'll and back and stuck onto a calendar to make his life miserable.

The pancakes are dry in his mouth as he can barely stand to take a bite before he goes to meet his mother again. So she can shoot him again. And again. And again.

For the pure irony of it all, he starts humming Happy Birthday to himself. The telltale footsteps arrive, and Danny waits for the hum of her pistol as he repeats the obnoxiously famous tune.

When she just sits there on the grass without a weapon in sight, Danny is admittedly confused.

"You're aim's been getting better," Danny comments snidely as he finishes humming. "You hit the target dead in the center last loop, guess the practice is doing some good for you."

It hurt like hell.

He lets himself rotate a full 180 degrees, leaving him upside down. "So, how are we doing this whole thing this time? Strike a pose, maybe I can use my so called good acting to make it a dramatic display? Might as well make you killing me on repeat fun, you know."

Maddie scoffs. "Like I care. I'm not shooting you this time," she reveals, watching the ghostly child float upside down, whispy white hair drifting in the breeze.

"Staring contest then? We got a full looping eternity to share," Danny quips, waving a gloved hand.

"No, I just have questions. Not that I expect you to answer truthfully," Maddie hisses.

"Not that I expect you to believe me," Danny replies clinically. "Hey, it's my personal hell we're in, reliving the anniversary of my death and all."

"You remember the day you died?" Maddie tilts her head.

"Yup. April 3rd, 2004. I was being a stupid kid near industrial equipment. It usually is a offensive to ghosts to talk about their deaths, but considering the date and the situation, I don't really care anymore," Danny elaborates.

"Not only do you remember the time, but how you died as well?" Maddie echoes in awe at the ghost before her. And his death was only a year ago, today. "You're quite powerful for a ghost with an immature core..."

"Yeah, well, mum always did say I was special," Danny winks. The irony appears to be lost on his mother. He returns to being right side up, snowy hair falling messily over his face.

She's staring at him again. Taking him in. He's seen that analyzing look directed at him before. Though it doesn't really matter that much this deep into the loop.

"I'm sorry." Maddie sighs. Danny cocks his head in in response. She's apologising...?

"It probably doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry for shooting you Phantom. It's just, my Danny, my son. He's supposed to be hanging out with his friends today, and then I see you there and-"

It seems to click, right then and there. All this time, it's been about his ghost half. And despite the fact he knows he's half human, he's been neglecting that part of himself.

It's not his ghost half that needs closure. It's his human half. His original self. The Danny that drifts further and further from his self as Phantom overshadows his life.

Ghosts don't attack lairs on a Deathday. It's spectral law, embedded in the cores of ghosts when they form.

Danny doesn't need to mourn his ghost. He needs a day to be human again.

He gives Maddie a reminiscent smile. "He should, shouldn't he?" Danny sighs. It's time to start over. May as well save his mother the trouble. 

He charges an ectoblast in his palm, pointing two fingers at his head.

"See you six hours before now, mum."

"Wait! Phantom-!"

*BANG!*

-

**TIME OUT.**

-

Danny opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

He's ecstatic to get eggs and toast for breakfast today.


	20. Razor Sharp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimkat's Prompt
> 
> Danny discovers while human puberty had done it's work to him, his ghost half still needed to join the fun. Who knew fangs were a sign of maturity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone who has four """fangs""" of her own, allow me to vent my frustration.
> 
> Slight blood warning.

Danny has heard that the teenage years of one's life could be the toughest on the young mind. And with all the changes he's gone under up to this point, he can't help the subtle agreement.

He's sprouted like a beanstalk over the course of senior year, and didn't really notice until he was a good head taller than one Dash Baxter, who seemed hesitant to continue bullying him nowadays. He just thought the boy was maturing.

Danny didn't think much of his growing up. It was part of being human, even with his ghostly power. He's had them so long now, he can't imagine a world without his ecto blasts and powers beyond what anyone has ever expected.

Beyond it all, even though he had fully grown into his human body, his ghost form needed to make its own changes. Namely, what he found while brushing his teeth one morning.

A rinse and spit leads him to accidentally bite his own lip. The sudden pain causes him to abruptly drop the glass. Luckily it goes undamaged while Danny holds the side of his mouth with the sudden pain that had penetrated it.

Lifting his hands away from his mouth, Danny looks in the mirror to find something different about his mouth. Namely, his front teeth. The young Halfa finds himself in rapid disbelief at the sight.

Two long, bright white fangs have replaced his front teeth.

No wonder his lips hurt after closing one of those on them. The pointed fangs seem to lay inhumanly in the maw of the Halfa, making his appearance that much more intimidating with their presence.

Covering something like this up is sure to be a pain, he can just feel it. And that includes his core and slightly bleeding lip he just bit.

-

Maddie drops her coffee mug when Danny walks in the kitchen, yawning. It shatters sadly on the floor, creating a massive mess and a dark puddle that might end up staining the tile.

She rushes over to his side and grabs his chin, angling his head down to get a better look at what she thinks she just saw. Danny stutters awkwardly in turn, making the issue more obvious.

"Daniel James Fenton. What on earth did you do to your teeth?!" Maddie hisses as she studies the fangs protruding from her son's lips. There's a deep red everywhere he accidentally bit himself, so it's obvious these aren't intentional.

"It.... was a dare? To-to sharpen my front teeth?" Danny stutters nervously. In turn he bites his lip again and hisses in pain, holding his jaw once more as his mother backs off. He mutters soft and construed curses under his breath while his healing kicks in.

"Danny. Front teeth like those do not come that long, young man. If you had sharpened them intentionally, they would be shorter. No, these are clearly grown in, and... and your lip has already stopped bleeding..."

She grabs his chin again, inspecting the fangs. The shape is common in humanoid ghosts, usually around three years into core maturity.

But Danny is a human, isn't he? He still bleeds blood, him biting his lip again is enough proof of that. A human with ghostly attributes, that caused equipment to go haywire around him. But that seemed impossible...

Danny wipes the blood from his mouth onto the sleeve of his hoodie, the one he's been using lately to cover scars on his arms. Before Maddie can reprimand him, she spots flecks of green in the red blood. Right there on the white sleeve.

"Here sweetie, let me get a cloth for that. Don't use your sleeve," Maddie interjects. She washes the rest of the odd blood from his face.

"Now get yourself some breakfast and go to school. I love you dear!" Maddie quickly heads for the lab with the cloth in tow, to figure out what's going on with her son.

Danny licks absentmindedly at the fangs in his mouth in the meantime. The smooth surface felt just like teeth under the muscle, but closing his mouth too fast would end with scars on the inside of his lip, or puncturing his own tongue.

Plus he thinks his secret identity is screwed too. Let's just hope he doesn't get a lisp, or Clockwork forbid more fangs that make him look like a damn frootloop.


	21. No Signal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catalyst of the Soul's prompt
> 
> Valerie is underground. She's not sure how she got here, but who needs memory when you have a data log recording your hunt? Oh jeez. The file's corrupted, and she's only getting disjointed fragments...

There's the crunching of dirt under her feet as she walks around what appears to be a massive cave of some kind of another. Valerie makes sure her armor and gear are in working condition before moving on to find a way out.

It's only been a few moments of consciousness, but it's plain as day she's lost. There's no light in the depths of this place, just what her visor illuminates for her, and the glow of her ghost hunting suit. The cave is deep and dark, and there's no end in sight.

Valerie tries to remember how she ended up here. Or where here even is. Her head feels all fuzzy and in pain, so she must have sustained an injury before arriving here. In fact, there's a soreness all over herself now, leaving her injured head swimming.

With her gear in well enough condition, she attempts to check the logs on her right wrist. The panel flips up out of the metal, static and glitching. Valerie can barely make anything out on the screen before her.

Whoever stuck her down here was thorough. She has no memory or logs of what she was doing since when she had breakfast with her father last. 

The cave is so deep under the earth, Valerie can't even catch a radio signal with her suit. No phone or contact list could get her out if this one. For the time being, she's off the radar with a bugged ghost hunting suit, god knows how deep underground.

Nothing for it but to go further forward. Either way, she would either find a dead end or a way out, so it's best she start moving to leave. 

Hopefully, along the way, her memory would return, or someone would find her in this dark, damp cave....


	22. Please?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trainernick's prompt
> 
> Danny gets a dog - Danny decides he finally has time for a pet, but it has to be Cujo for reasons (he's a ghost dog)

"Please?"

Danny holds up the ghostly mutt to his parents, giving the biggest set if puppy dog eyes he can muster. Being half ghost means he has mental control of how he looks, and even if it's limited in his human form, the sparkles in his bright blue eyes can't be denied.

Speaking of puppy dog eyes, Cujo was doing his own imitation of the look Danny is currently giving his parents. The dog's tail says at it whimpers, completing the picture of a boy and his dog perfectly. Even if it is a glowing green dog with deep red eyes.

Maddie and Jack share a look. Seeing their son holding a ghost in his arms leaves both ghost hunters unsettled, but there's just something so heartwarming about the scene in front of them to deny the boy outright.

Okay, maybe Danny is inadvertently using some of his ghostly influence to lighten the mood around his lair. But he needs this. Cujo needs a home that isn't the ghost zone, and proper behavior training in general. Even if the ghost knows commands, he needs work on being socialized.

Maddie seems set on glaring, but her face falters every now and then. She so despratly wants to rip the beast in her son's arms out of the embrace and capture it, but something about the scene before her makes her pause.

The ghost is quite the fair bit content and non-hostile while Danny is holding it. Ghosts hate to be contained, with their limited mental structure demanding they go and do whatever ties them to the universe without abandon. 

The ghost dog just sits in Danny's arms, a goofy dog smile opening up to heavy panting and a wagging tail. The whispy appendage waves back and forth in some mimic form of pleasure as the ghost sniffs around what's immediately present.

Jack reaches a hand out to the dog, confused more than angry. The normally jovial man concentrates on the spectral canine, seeing if it would do anything to anyone other than Danny.

Cujo sniffs the offered hand, taking in the familiar scent of a hazmat glove and ectoplasm. Just like Danny in ghost form, but with different smells that are new and interesting. He sniffs a little longer, before a slimy tongue begins licking Jack's hand, like a normal puppy.

"Can I hold him?" Jack asks quickly. Unbenounced to Danny, Jack has always had an interest in a family pet. Sure, he never got a pony as a kid, but something, some thoughts about an animal companion seemed to please the larger man.

Danny gently hands Cujo to his father, watching both parents with careful intent. Maddie stiffens by the two boys as the puppy curls into Jack's larger arms. Habitual breathing follows, but the little green tail continues to wag happily with the new presence.

Now Jack has joined in on giving Maddie puppy dog eyes. Because she needed another reason not to declare letting a ghost wander the house dangerous.

The Huntress reddens in the face, indigo eyes tracing between her husband, her son and the ghost dog. Back and forth a few times. Time seems to crawl as she breathes in and out.

"See Mom? Cujo isn't agressive!" Danny pleads. "I'm sure you could do some observing with non aggressive ghost behaviour! A-and the self-preservation thing can keep him out of the lab! And because he's a ghost, eating fudge off the floor won't kill him and...."

Curse her son knowing her too well. She will admit, the ghost dog is behaving unnaturally in the presence of so many humans. Hunters and scientists in fact. Figuring out why would need observation, and the looks her family continue to nail at her with....

"....fine. You can keep the ghost dog, Danny. But it's your responsibility, and if it turns hostile, we're capturing it." She sighs with finality. In turn, her son breaks into the widest grin she's ever seen a human muster.

"Thank you!" Danny cheers, bouncing on his feet. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..." he continues to cheer repeatedly. Cujo wags his tail excitedly as he leaps out of Jack's arms and joins the hyperactive teen in the living room.

"Might be a pittie and a bulldog cross, that puppy," Jack comments with a smile of his own. He too finds it hard to hide his excitement for the ghost dog living with them. "What do you think, Mads?"

Just then, Cujo walks up and sniffs Maddie's feet. Wagging his tail and falling over on his back, belly in the air. Maddie looks at this, carefully bending down to investigate.

She tentitivly runs a hand along Cujo's stomach, feeling the cold fur under her fingers. Despite the temperature, the dog is soft to the touch. Crimson eyes meet her own, and she again sighs in resignation.

"I think this is going to be an interesting addition to our family."


	23. Feathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Illusn's Prompt 
> 
> Of all the things Danny was expecting to come with being half ghost, wings weren't one of them.

Danny has heard that people called his ghost half a guardian angel before. A boy brought from the dead to defend and protect humans from demons of hell that wish harm. 

Danny himself knew it wasn't that complex, ghosts would be ghosts and his desire to protect was more than enough to motivate him to stopping them. 

And sure, his existence is screwey with the whole ghost/human hybrid business, but he's no angel. Just a hybrid ghost in a jumpsuit, being a superhero moonlight vigilante style.

But the day he grew wings, it might mean he has to reconsider that sentiment about the angel thing.

He noticed it in human form, first. A tattoo on his back he had no recollection of getting marred with feathered patterns and thick, black lines. Even the small strokes of the inky markings appeared in vantablack.

The imprint on his back doesn't wash or fade, and responds to intangibility and invisibility like the rest of his body. He can't tell anyone about the feathery design on his back, he might be grounded for going and getting a tattoo (he knows he never actually got!) without permission.

When he goes ghost though, his back suddenly feels heavy, yet light at the same time. Like a release, but with a new weight to his back. Ivory feathers fill his vision as he looks to find the cause of the eerie feeling.

The tattoo is gone in his ghost form. In place there are two pure, white wings. They hang off his back so naturally, looking like that of a giant dove's wingspan sprouting out of his back.

Miffed, but so full of curiosity now, Dany sees if he can adjust the wings. As he thinks about it, the feathery appendages twitch, furling and unfurling on mental command, with just as much ease as he has in his tail when he needs it.

Is this another new power, these wings? An addition to his form like his ecto blasts or ice? What else could they do? Aside flit about in command and look pretty...

Spreading his new pair of wings, Danny attempts to fly with them. With both fully available, each wing seemed as big as his body. The bright and glowing feathers catch air with ease, making his defiance of gravity actual flight, rather than floating where he wants to go.

The wings are also powerful. He smacked Skulker in the head with one while learning to fly with them. It came clean off, leaving for an easy capture while the citizens awed the new set of feathers coming from their ghostly hero.

In turn the angel theory goes into a full overdrive.

But that's not all the wings do. He can temper the limbs like he can the rest of his spectral form. The increased range he has now when stuck in close combat is much apreceated. 

The feathers are naturally soft, but can be made sharp like the backs of his heels. He can then fire them at will without fear of running out of ammo as they grow back. Coating the feathers in ice or plasma makes them extra fun.

The thick plumage makes for great cover from attacks his shield couldn't stand. Wrapping his wings around himself in a cocoon and freezing himself negated a lot of the pain he'd usually feel otherwise. Opening them again makes a shockwave counterattack that is pretty useful.

And the wings can conceal themselves on command. Not just as the tattoo in his human form, but as a silky cape, soft to the touch. It bellows behind him in the wind whenever he doesn't need the feathers flying everywhere. Even the underside is black, melding well with his jumpsuit.

The next time he sees Vlad in his ghost form, he starts poking around the elder halfa's cape. Vlad glares in turn, before noting Danny's own upgrade to his form.

"And you keep denying the fact you're a rip off vampire, why?" Danny jokes as he looks at the leathery bat wings Vlad has himself.

Vlad just glares, smacking Danny with a white wing.


	24. Memory Lapse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spacegravedoodles prompt
> 
> Danny forgets the thermos one day

Well, he's screwed.

Danny finds himself uselessly patting down his vantablack jumpsuit in vain as the familiar weight of a certain ghost and soup canister appears to be missing from his arsenal. Sweat from panic starts to bead his forehead as the realization hits.

He forgot the Fenton Thermos at home. The one ghost hunting weapon he needs, the one thing that isn't built into his reality defying body, is all the way across town. And the ghost he just smacked down is getting up again.

There's no time. If he leaves to get the thermos, the howling mess of ectoplasm before him would just destroy this part of his home. Maybe even hurt or kill someone! He can't let that happen!

Danny flies in, using a few short blasts to keep the beast grounded. His spectral tail flits with panic as he tries to think of a counter strategy.

He's never needed a counter strategy before, and he doesn't have one now. Clearly his carelessness is coming uo to bite him in the rear end.

If it was a more intelligent ghost, one he could talk to, he could probably convince them to move back to the ghost zone after a few extra zaps to persuade them. Not this thing though, whatever the hell it thinks it is.

The creature came from a natural portal. It's as big as the nearby radio tower, roaring and howling like a monstrous pile of goo. It's big, it's ugly, and it's dangerous, moving in every which direction with no set path to it's destruction.

His mother has described a ghost like this a ghost formed of multiple conciousnesses from the deceased. Ghosts like these are the result of tragedy, too incoherent with so much post concious thought to move properly, but a collection of ectoplasmic souls with the same goal.

And it's currently still attempting to tear at everything in its path, including itself as it roars and growls. The voice of the thing shakes the very ground, much like Danny's ghostly wail. It's roar is filled with the anguish of the souls within it.

And yet, Danny cannot destroy the creature. He's sworn off permanent solutions like that for his years of being a Halfa. Even if he could, even if he wanted to, he's sworn to protect. He would not destroy the ghost before him.

Which means he needs a different way to capture it and send it to the ghost zone. Now.

Danny continues to flit about and fire an occasional blast to keep the creature down. Nothing in the immediate area pointed to a way to drag the creature back into the ghost zone, and the natural portal it emerged from closed a long time ago.

As he ponders, the slimy creature gains enough footing to smack Danny out of the sky. The Halfa goes tumbling onto the hard concrete, smacking face first into the road. The energy of the impact forms a deep crater in the street, leaving more damage in the wake of this fight.

Danny pulls himself out of the rubble with a grunt. He grips the bigger rocks with his gloved hands, groaning in pain as they scrape sharply along the cement and tar.

As he lifts himself into a sitting position, he looks to the rocks that supported him absentmindedly. Flecks of green line the rubble, in what Danny first assumes to be his own ectoplasm, but the glow fades. There are scars in the rock where the green was.

"What the...."

Danny holds his hands up, only to jolt in surprise at their appearance. The ivory gloves now seemed to have grown pointed at the fingertips, almost like claws.

The Halfa continues to inspect his now clawed glove a moment, before the roar of the beast drags his attention back to the situation at hand. That thing needs to be stopped.

He turns quickly toward the ghostly amalgamation, hand inadvertently sweeping in front of him. The ark of his arm is quickly traced in green as a bright portal opens before Danny's eyes. The Halfa jumps back from the sudden portal, and it closes just as suddenly as it appeared.

He rakes his vision across his hands, as a sudden plan forms in his mind. If he's able to do what he thinks he is, then he might just have a shot at saving the town. He just needs a bit of luck, and some rapid training with his new power.

After all, experience is the best teacher.

Kicking off the ground and letting antigravity take him, he flies back over to the monster. He just needs to have a majority of its concious follow him, by making himself a target.

Along the way, he practices slicing portals and fading them, tearing and repairing the fabric of reality to keep track of his insane new plan. But these are just small portals.

To stop the beast, he'll need to tear open a bigger one. A much bigger one. This is where he takes his chance on luck while he makes a gap between himself and the ghostly beast.

Letting the energy build, Danny raises his arms. The sharp claws created in his gloves glow a night green, before he let's himself release the energy. He slashes downward toward the concrete, making a portal just big enough to loop the beast into it.

The agonizing howls of the thing fade as the portal disappears. Danny feels his ghost half slipping as he ducks behind an alley and promptly collapses.

Ragged breaths follow his sudden transformation, leaving him without the claws in human form. Danny is exhausted after a maneuver like that which he just pulled.

But his backup plan was a success, even if it was a bit unorthodox and extremely lucky. Like most of his big fights, he supposes.

When he can move again, he's going to go find Wulf.

And his thermos.


	25. Hook, Line, Sinker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghostanimal's Prompt
> 
> After discovering the existence of Dani Phantom, Jack and Maddie devise a plan to use her as bait in order to catch her cousin, Danny Phantom.

Dani struggles against the thick fishing line around her waist as the orange jumpsuits man cackles with delight, holding the rod with kiddish glee.

The youngest of halfas was caught by Jack Fenton earlier that morning. And now she is being bounced up and down with the Fenton Fishing Line tying her up like a present, including a bow on her DP logo. It isn't a very flattering position.

"Oh boy, Mads! I'm telling you, this is the perfect way to catch that ghost boy! Phantom will come for this little present and bam! We'll catch him and rip him apart, molecule by molecule!" Jack booms as he bounces the line again. 

Dani makes a hurling noise, but manages not to vomit. She didn't sign up for this.

"Why do you guys wanna hurt my cousin, anyway?!" She shouts up at the hunter pair, becoming quite fed up with this situation as she hangs off the edge of tbe Fentonworks building. "Thats just mean and rude, you know!"

"Ghosts can have family?" Jack mutters, but Maddie puts a hand on his shoulder,shushing her husband.

"You know that isn't true, dear. The post human consciousness has her believing she's related to Phantom. But despite the similarities, they can't be. Ghosts don't have blood, or reproductive organs to make any familial connections. Or the mental capacity."

"You calling me dumb up there?! I can hear you, you know!!" Dani protests. She kicks her legs and the aches against the line, only to knock her head against the wall when she swings back into it. "Ow!"

"Ghosts don't feel pain," Maddie states simply at the response, under the impression Dani is taking it in order to gain sympathy from the hunters. Which a ghost wouldn't receive.

"Really? Why don't you knock your head against a building and feel that not pain too!" Dani bites back angrily, still struggling with the binding. Jack tugs the line again, eliciting a frustrated groan from the ghost girl in question.

Danny comes home from school about an hour later, to find his spiritual cousin dangling from his house. The boy's eyes widen in shock as he locks sky blue eyes with those of an ectoplasmic emerald.

"Danielle!" Danny shouts with newfound panic. The girl looks tired, sick of hanging in midair and constantly bashing her very real skull into the side of a building, regardless what the scientists above her are rambling about.

"Danny! Please get me down from here!!" Dani whines with desperation. She kicks her legs, which results in her swinging and hitting the wall again. The gurl moans in pain, stirring no need to wait any longer.

Too bad Danny doesn't notice his parents looking over the windowsill Dani is dangling from. He's a bit too focused on the fact that his cousin is dangling from a wire at a dangerously high height, and might be getting a concussion from all the bashing into a wall.

"I'm on my way cuz! Just give me a minute!" Danny declares, before calling on the coolness of his core. Bright, ice blue rings appear at his waist as he makes a quick transformation and flight up the building. 

The upper ring just barely passes his ebony head and turns it ivory when he finds himself at eye level with his parents, who are holding a Fenton Thermos and the Fenton X-tractor. They both blink, wide eyed at each other for what feels like hours.

"Danny!" Dani's voice snaps everyone back to reality. "Fellow Halfa still tied up down here! Get me down!!" She whines with extreme discontent in her voice.

"Oh. Right. Yeah.... uh.... coming Cuz...." Danny takes the rod from his Father's loose grip. The older man in turn drops the thermos with a useless clunk on the ground, still not moving much beyond that.

His mother too had lowered the head of the X-Tractor to the ground. There's an awkward silence as Danny reels in his cousin and starts working on the bow like knot over her logo. He holds the rod of the Fenton Fisher between his thighs as white gloves untangle his cousin.

"About time you showed up! I think the half of me that's got blood rushed to my head and knocked into that wall like eighteen times!" Dani continues to complain. "And then that lady has the nerve to say I don't feel pain?! I feel like I got hit by a truck, Danny!"

"Yeah, she's like that," is all Danny comments. He's quiet as he let's Dani ramble on about how terrible her day hanging upside down from a building was.

Finally, the line releases the younger of the two halfas, and Dani shaking floats to her cousin, rapping her arms around him. "I knew you'd save me."

"Its what family's for, Dani. No matter where that family came from, blood or a copy of my ecto sig. Im here to help," he ruffles her hair, befire it causes her to yelp in sidden pain. Danny lifts his hand, inspecting her head.

"Yep. That's a nasty bruise. Sorry I wasn't here sooner. That's going to hurt like a bitch when you turn human again," Danny comments.

"Danny! Language!" Maddie finally finds her voice, though it's broken and strained as she berates her apparently ghostly son.

"Sorry mom," Danny mutters, lowering his head out of habit due to the reprimanding.

"Wow, I know you said your parents were crazy when it comes to ghost hunting, but I think this is a whole new level of it," Dani groans, rubbing her head.

"Come on, I'll get some Advil and a cup of water. You just wait outside in human form, I'll be right back," Danny says as he lowers the ghost girl to the ground.

Rings appear again, around the girl this time as she turns into a carbon copy of the youngest Fenton, albeit quite the touch more... feminine. She rubs her head more vigorously, whining louder as her bruise turns from dark green to purplish red.

Danny grabs the cup and fills it with water, two tablets if painkillers in his other hand as his parents meet him at the bottom of the stairs. They lock eyes again, leaving more silence.

"Go... go help your friend, Danny. We can talk after." Maddie sighs. She sounds lost, defeated. It's unlike how Danny has seen her before. It felt wrong, but yet so necessary.

"Ok... I'll be back...." He replies, taking the painkillers to his concussed cousin.

Despite how tired he is today, it's going to be a long night...


	26. Sparking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nomii prompt
> 
> Electric Core Danny AU - Show Rewrite - Instead of ice powers the accident with the Fenton Portal left Danny with electric based powers, his ghost sense a sharp jolt of a jump scare and his worries now revolving around trying to survive the increase in static shock. Life goes on, however, and he learns just how tiring being a half-ghost is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during "Urban Jungle" but with Electric Core Danny

Bzzzzzzap!!!!

More static sparks fly from Danny as he can't seem to sit still. Technus watches the young Halfa twitch and shudder with a force of contained energy as he moves around the small laboratory in the ghost zone.

The boy had come floating in this direction, lit up like a neon green lightbulb. He was barely concious at the time, so Technus easily found a way to drain the excess energy leaking from his body. 

Danny is still in his holding chamber while Technus looks over the schematic scans of the halfa's makeup. The answer to this issue is obvious.

"And I can't beat him! I can barely fight back with this static sensation paralyzing me every five seconds!" Danny continues to complain, pacing back and forth in the chamber and unable to stop the to the sheer amount of electric energy buzzing through him.

"I can tell you one thing, child. The static sensation you're experiencing can easily be fixed!" Technus declares, rotating a screen into Danny's view. A diagram of his body is on the monitor, with a small, blinking sphere indicating his chest.

"This is your ghost core, Phantom! And right now it's overcharged with electrical energy, causing your form to be stressed and relentlessly energetic!" The technical ghost points at, Danny tracing the movements with his eyes.

"But... why?" Danny mutters, continuing to pace. Technus breaks into a wide grin, adjusting his glasses as he chuckles.

"You are still a ghost, child, no matter how partially! Your core is embued with electrical power, that works just like the skills every ghost has!" Technus explains, moving the cursor on the monitor around the blinking core in the chest of the figure.

"So, is this like... a new ghost power?" Danny mutters in awe, just barely finding it in himself to stand still for a moment.

"Its not new in the slightest. Electricity is just a more harnessed form of Plasmatic Matter, the beams of energy you shoot from your hands is a different manifestation of your electrical powers. This new development has been here all along!" Elaborates Technus.

"The whole time? But I shot plenty of plasma at Undergrowth, and it didn't change a thing!" Danny tries to reason. Technus only continues to smile.

"This is a different brand of Plasmatic energy, child. One that's been building up in you since you formed. And as you've grown more powerful, the small bursts you've let free overtime are not compensating enough to keep you balanced."

"Small amounts?" Danny echoes, pacing again. "When would that happen?"

"Every time you sense a ghost is near, of course!" Technus answers.

"My ghost sense? That's been a part of this electrical power this while time?" Danny puts a hand on his chest, where the monitor indicates his core.

"Exactly, child! And although you have no control over it whatsoever, I, Technus, would be glad to teach you how to use these electrical pulses!"

Danny finds himself smiling. "Teach me! Maybe then I can use my new powers to stop Undergrowth!"


	27. Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nomii prompt
> 
> Guys-in-White Spy AU - There's a ghost hunter in Casper High. Granted this isn't exactly a surprise considering the town, but when the spy threatens to destroy the tentative peace and treaty that Caspar High is under, Wes Weston, Valerie Grey, and Danny Fenton have to work together to stop it all from crumbling down - they didn't expect to end up sharing the secrets of their lives, however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Livin Large, but we actually take the serious plot and make it an actual plot.
> 
> I didn't know what everyone's deal was with Livin Large because I remembered it for the "giw literally tries to blow up a dimension" subplot rather than Danny being an arse

Danny's room is crowded for the time being.

The place had been combed top to bottom, left and right again, for anything to clue the Guys in White in. In the center of the room sat three unlikely individuals, but the mood couldn't be more serious.

Danny could basically feel the ectoplasm burning under his eyes. If the circumstances were any less severe, he wouldn't have to resort to this. But he's not the only one in danger here. Before him, Valerie Gray and Wes Weston meet him with equal looks of desperation. 

The severity of this issue cannot be underestimated. The three of them are the keys to the vault of every secret in Amity Park, and one wrong move could let everything slip. The ghost zone, the human world, countless lives and afterlives could be put in danger.

The goal of this meeting is clear. Weed out the snake in the grass, before it can sink it's venomous teeth into them.

It seemed to come so suddenly, but there's no denying it. The G.I.W, a branch in the government tasked with the enforcement of the anti-ecto control act, are becoming desperate themselves. No one in the group knew who yet, but a Spy has begun to monitor the halls of Casper High.

Wes was the one who discovered it. In his unending efforts to expose Danny to the world, a darker, much more sinister mystery began to present itself. Dangerous information is being traded in Casper High, and it's bad enough that Wes felt the need to suck up his pride.

Of course, he didn't go to Danny. Like he would, considering his protests against the shapeshifting ghost. He didn't know the Halfa would have to be roped into this crisis.

No, he went to Valerie first. Told her what he found. She didn't believe it at first, but a lot of things started to make sense.

The G.I.W are growing more impending by the minute. Of course they'd stoop to making a teen an agent of their cause. But, Wes nor Valerie could hold the whole story on their own. They needed a third opinion.

Which leads to where we are now, Danny in his room, showing off his so called scary eyes as proof to Wes's claims to his nature.

"If not for the topic if why we're here, I would have asked why you never said anything before now," is all Valerie states, folding her arms and keeping her rage to herself. She felt betrayed, yes, but she could see the reasons behind the secrecy.

"Sorry, but even before now, you were working for my nemesis. Even though I wanted to, he probably bugged your suit seven ways to Sunday for when I do become vulnerable around you," Danny replies, letting the glow fade from emerald to sky blue once more.

"True. I've been spending the past few months since the ordeal with your cousin debugging it," Valerie adds. "But that's beside the point for now."

"Yeah, Fenton. What are we supposed to do about this government rat, huh? What do you think their goal Is?" Wes interjects, clenching and unflinching his fists. Being a bit too nosey for his own good is really backlashing for the ordinary teen, in comparison to the ghost and hunter in the room.

"Simple. The G.I.W are around to hide the existence of ghosts from the public. They have a law, the Anti-Ecto Control Act. It classifies all beings of ectoplasmic origin as non-sentient and dangerous,no matter how powerful. Ectoplasmic entities are unpermmited in the country," Danny explains, folding his arms under his chin.

"Is that why all the tourists think the ghost thing around here us a hoax?" Wes interrupts again. "I always thought it was weird. We're crawling with ghosts all the time, but no one outside town ever hears about it until they see it."

"Yes, that's exactly it," Danny confirms to his classmate. "The G.I.W are the ones who control the flow of information to and from Amity Park because of how many residents know that they're here. The government is attempting to quarantine the problem so they can eradicate it easier."

"Erradicate it? As in, destroy every ghost in Amity Park?" Valerie inquires. A stray hand taps the desk as she takes in the presented information.

"Erradicate it as in destroy ghosts in general," Danny declares darkly. "The current goal of the G.I.W is to destroy the ghost zone as a whole. With no ghosts, it makes keeping the secret easier."

"Destroy the ghost zone? But, I've been to the ghost zone with you before! It wasn't a zone, it was an entire dimension!" Valerie exclaims, before quieting down.

"Exactly. It's a dimension that's very closely linked to ours too. It exists on the other side of a veil, and the two of our worlds leak into each other often. It's a deeply knit connection in the fabric of reality itself," Danny elaborates.

"So what you're saying is, if one goes... then the other falls with it?" Wes concludes, before his eyes widen. "But, but why does the government want to start the apocalypse?!"

"They don't know they are. Valerie described it earlier. Most of modern ectology acts on the premise that the ghost zone is a small pocket in space time, not another dimension. This misconception is the root cause of the danger," Danny moves to his dresser, pulling out his maps.

"Sorry your info on the ghost portals and ghost zone is a few months late, Val. But, deal is a deal," Danny quips, laying out the pages on his bed. "This is the most comprehensible map of the ghost zone we have so far, and this is just the stuff around the portal in the basement."

"This is insane. Absolutely insane. I would have never started jumping down your throat if I knew the rabbit hole went this deep," Wes mutters as he looks at the notes and diagrams.

"Tell that one to my past self before he decides being a vigilante superhero is a fun idea, why don't you," Danny remarks sarcastically. "This is just the tip of the iceberg here, Weston."

"Joy." Wes snaps back, looking over the maps once more. The drawings are more detailed and complex than even his boards on exposing Fenton for who he really is. Though those aren't necessary anymore, it's better he takes them down when he gets home.

"Guess I have to credit you somewhere. If it wasn't for you snooping into my business, we might have never sensed this threat before it's too late. At least now we have time to prepare," Danny sighs.

"What are the maps for, anyway?" Valerie takes in the notes, memorizing her notes without use of her suit out of fear of being compromised.

"Locating the nearest allies and cooperates. We'll need eyes and ears in both dimensions if we want a chance at taking this operation down." Danny traces a few key areas around some lairs depicted in his drawings.

"So while they gather their information on us, we gather our info on them! Pretty smart, Fenton," Wes compliments, earning a nod from the Halfa.

"Exactly. We're going to need as many power plays as possible for when these guys strike. If they have a Spy, it's inevitable they're going to take action soon. And I hate to say it, but that means making some dirty and underhanded moves of our own," Danny swings his hands again.

"Its a battle between morals and the fate of two entire dimensions. I have to agree with you here, Fenton. This is a war with the government and their connections. We need connections of our own, and fast," Valerie reasons.

"Which is why I have a favor to ask, Valerie. A risky one," Danny sighs, meeting the eyes of the Huntress. 

"I'm sure it's mostly severed by now, but I need you to find a way to contact Vlad and get him on our side. I can go with if you want. As much as I hate the old Frootloop, he's got the connections we need from other rivaling ghosts, as long as we use the right leverage."

"Manipulating Vlad to do our dirty work this time? Karma really is a bitch, huh," Valerie comments. "It does sound advantageous. I'll put into my time table to see him for a meeting as soon as possible."

"Wes, I want you to keep snooping. Pretend your still sticking your nose in my business, be discrete. You've got the skills to sniff out who the G.I.W are paying to masquerade as a student," Danny instructs.

"I hate to agree with you, Fenton. But you are the man with a plan here. I'm in to do that," Wes concedes. "Can't believe I'm helping Danny Phantom and the Red Huntress stop the apocalypse."

"Welcome to Team Phantom." Danny replies condicendingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/10 better apocalypse threat than Phantom Planet.
> 
> Anyhow, that concludes Phic Phight 2019! Thanks for making it this far!


End file.
